The Lampyridae are a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera, with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, glowworms, or lightning bugs for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production in the Lampyridae 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.
Elateridae or click beetles are family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks. This family was defined by William Elford Leach (1790–1836) in 1815. They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few other families of Elateroidea in which a few members have the same mechanism, but most elaterid subfamilies can click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum, producing a violent "click" that can bounce the beetle into the air. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself. There are about 9300 known species worldwide, and 965 valid species in North America.
The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. The family Rhagophthalmidae, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae.
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also occurs in the families Elateridae, Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae among beetles; as well as members of the genera Arachnocampa, Keroplatus, and Orfelia among keroplatid fungus gnats.
The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives.
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 a few handful of species in (presumably) two genera found in North America and Eurasia. Its taxonomic history is confusing; it has at various times been included in the now-abolished Amydetinae or the Lampyrinae.
The Ototretinae are a small subfamily in the firefly family (Lampyridae). They are close to the Luciolinae in some respects, but do not glow or flash. Rather, they attract their partners with pheromones like many relatives of the firefly family. They are found in Eurasia and North America.
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 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.
The Omalisinae are a small subfamily of morphologically derived elaterid beetles. The Omalisinae were long considered an independent family in the deprecated family Cantharoidea, and later a family in the Elateroidea, but molecular phylogenies have demonstrated the morphological similarity of Omalisinae to other soft bodied beetles is a case of parallel evolution (homoplasy) of their soft bodies, rather than an apomorphy. Members of this beetle subfamily have been reported to have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, although no recent publications have confirmed this. Some recent evidence indicated they were the sister group to a clade comprising the families Rhagophthalmidae and Phengodidae, however a more comprehensive phylogenetic analysis based on genome sequences strongly supported the Omalisinae as being contained within the Elateridae.
Plastocerus is a genus of click beetles, the sole member of the subfamily Plastocerinae; while it has historically often been ranked as a family, the genus is now placed firmly within the family Elateridae.
Omethidae is a family of Elateroidea sometimes known as the false soldier beetles.
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.
Sinopyrophorus is a genus of bioluminescent hard-bodied clicking beetles in the superfamily Elateroidea, and is the sole member of the recently recognized family Sinopyrophoridae. The genus currently contains a single species, Sinopyrophorus schimmeli, which was described in 2019 from the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests of western Yunnan, China.
Chespirito is a genus of fireflies. They are the type genus and sole constituent of the subfamily Chespiritoinae. This genus is somewhat unusual among fireflies in a complete lack of bioluminescent organs in the adults.
The Lycini is a species-rich beetle tribe belonging to the subfamily Lycinae
Harmatelia bilinea, is a species of firefly beetle endemic to Sri Lanka.
Telegeusinae is a small subfamily of beetles in the family Omethidae recognizable by enlarged palpi found in males. Though relatively rare, males are sometimes found in large numbers in black light traps. Females are not known in this group, but it is theorized that females are larviform as found in many closely related taxa.
