The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production in the Lampyridae is thought to have originated as an honest warning signal that the larvae were distasteful; this was co-opted in evolution as a mating signal in the adults. In a further development, female fireflies of the genus Photuris mimic the flash pattern of Photinus species to trap their males as prey.
Photuris is a genus of fireflies. These are the femme fatale lightning bugs of North America. This common name refers to a behavior of the adult females of these predatory beetles; they engage in aggressive mimicry, imitating the light signals of other firefly species' females to attract, kill, and eat the males. Their flashing bioluminescent signals seem to have evolved independently and eventually adapted to those of their prey, mainly unrelated Lampyrinae, such as Photinus or Pyractomena.
Lampyris is a genus of beetles in the Lampyridae. In most of western Eurasia, they are the predominant members of this family and includes the European common glow-worm, which is the type species. They produce a continuous glow; the larvae and larviform females are among those organisms commonly called "glowworms".
The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae, though historically they have been often treated as a subfamily of Lampyridae, or as related to that family. Some recent evidence suggested that they were the sister group to the Phengodidae, and somewhat distantly related to Lampyridae, whose sister taxon was Cantharidae, but more reliable genome-based phylogenetics placed as the sister group to the Lampyridae.
Phausis is a genus of firefly beetles. These beetles are for the most part unimpressive in their appearance and behaviour, so have not drawn much study, and little is known about many of the species. Species in this genus are at least known from North America. Ten species are described in North America, ranging throughout much of the continent.
Luciola is a genus of "flashing" fireflies, especially well known from Japan. They are often called "Japanese fireflies", but their members range farther into Asia and reach southern Europe and Africa. This genus is traditionally held to extend to Australia, but these species do not seem to belong herein.
The Cyphonocerinae are a subfamily of fireflies (Lampyridae) with only single genus, Cyphonocerus.
The Photurinae are a subfamily of fireflies (Lampyridae). They contain many of the well-known North American species, such as the Pennsylvania firefly, state insect of Pennsylvania. They are among the "flashing" fireflies known as "lightning bugs" in North America, although they are not too distantly related to the flashing fireflies in the Lampyrinae; as the most basal lineages of that subfamily do not produce light at all, the Photurinae's flashing signals seem to be convergent evolution.
The Luciolinae are among the largest subfamilies of fireflies (Lampyridae). They seem to be all "flashing" fireflies. They are a diverse lineage, spreading throughout the warm parts of Eurasia into temperate Europe and East Asia and south to the Australian region.
The Photinini are a large tribe of fireflies in the subfamily Lampyrinae. Photinus pyralis is famous in biotechnology for its luciferase gene. This is sometimes employed as a marker gene; genetically modified organisms which contain it start to glow like the firefly when brought in contact with a luciferin-containing medium. Firefly luciferases differ slightly between taxa, resulting in differently colored light and other properties, and in most cases where "firefly luciferase" is used in some application or study, it is the specific luciferase of P. pyralis.
The Lampyrini are a tribe of fireflies in the large subfamily Lampyrinae. The lineage formerly separated as Pleotomini seems to be a specialized offshoot of the Lampyrini not too distant from the type genus Lampyris and is therefore included here. This tribe occurs throughout the Holarctic and contains the typical "glowing" or "continuous-light" fireflies from that region. Some otherwise very advanced Lampyrini, like species in Paraphausis and Pyrocoelia, have degenerated light-producing organs again and communicate primarily or even exclusively with pheromones like the ancestors of the fireflies did.
The Lampyrinae are a large subfamily of fireflies (Lampyridae). The exact delimitation, and the internal systematics, have until recently been a matter of debate; for long this group was used as a "wastebin taxon" to hold any fireflies with insufficiently resolved relationships. Regardless, they are very diverse even as a good monophyletic group, containing flashing and continuous-glow fireflies from the Holarctic and some tropical forms as well. The ancestral Lampyrinae probably had no or very primitive light signals; in any case several modern lineages appear to have returned to the pheromone communication of their ancestors independently.
The Pleotomini are a tribe of fireflies in the large subfamily Lampyrinae.
The rover fireflies (Photinus) are a genus of fireflies. They are the type genus of tribe Photinini in subfamily Lampyrinae. This genus contains, for example, the common eastern firefly, the most common species of firefly in North America.
Atyphella is a genus of 'flashing' firefly found in the Australasian region, particularly in the eastern and northern regions of Australia. The genus consists of 23 recognized species, 14 considered to be endemic to Australia.
The Lamprocerini are a tribe of fireflies in the large subfamily Lampyrinae, though at least some Lamprocerini species are not bioluminescent in the adult stage. They are generally neotropical, found in North America only as vagrants.
Pollaclasis is a genus of fireflies in the beetle family Lampyridae. There is one described species in Pollaclasis, P. bifaria. Pollaclasis is most closely related to Pterotus, and may someday become included within the Pterotinae subfamily.
Drilaster axillaris is a species of firefly in the subfamily Ototretinae.
Lamellipalpus is an Asian genus of fireflies or glow-worms in the subfamily Ototretinae.
Hyperstoma is a genus of firefly beetles in the family Lampyridae. Previously considered as a monotypic genus, the second species of the genus was described from 2011. The genus is endemic to Sri Lanka.
