Lampyris noctiluca Larva Insect Coleopter Firefly Lightning Bug Glowworm Lampyridae

Lampyris noctiluca larva cm 2.5-3 Insect Coleopter Firefly Lightning Bug Glowworm Lampyridae.
Family: Lampyridae (fireflies).
Common name: Lightning Bug, Firefly, Common Glow-Worm of Europe, or Glowwom.
Syn. Cantharis noctiluca, Lampyris bellieri, Lampyris carreti, Lampyris longipennis, Lampyris minor, Lampyris obscurella, Lampyris parvicollis, Lampyris sibirica, Lampyris submucronata, Lampyris thoracica.

ATTENTION: we are not a pet shop, the fireflies we sell, like all our animals, are dead, dried, collectible, they don't live to fill your lanterns!

Lampyris noctiluca (Linnaeus, 1767) is a Coleopter belonging to the Lampyridae family. Together with other species of this family it is commonly called Firefly.
It has a striking sexual dimorphism: the male is winged, with the typical shape of a beetle. The female has a larviform appearance and is without wings. It can reach 25 mm in length.
Unlike the more common fireflies (eg Luciola italica), the Lampyris noctiluca often appear in isolated individuals. Males fly in their search emitting short flashes of light. The females, much more rare and difficult to see, crawl to the ground making themselves noticed for their brightness.
Between 10 am and 12 pm, in the months of June and July, the larval females move to an area where they can be seen and reached by a male, and activate the luminescence of the three terminal segments, lifting them to make them visible . The light emitted is of a beautiful bright green and remains on for about two hours, if a male does not arrive, after which the female withdraws into her hiding place, and re-emerges the next night. This ritual can be repeated for 10 consecutive nights.
The chemicals involved in light production are luciferin and luciferase, whose exact composition is genetically conditioned, producing subtle variations from individual to individual. This chemical transformation has a very efficient yield, as almost all the energy is transformed into light, and only 2% is dispersed in heat. The male can perceive this light from 15 meters away.
The larvae live for two or three years, feeding mainly on snails and slugs. The prey is attacked in bites, injecting it with a toxic brown digestive fluid. The fluid acts slowly, paralyzing the victim and turning part of it into a brown gruel, which the larva sucks in. Adult females are similar in appearance, however with a lateral stripe of orange spots with luminous organs (less luminous than adult insects), they do not always sparkle. They have a multi-year development: there are four or five larval stages. In winter, the larvae hide in places sheltered from the cold, ready to awaken when the heat and light return the following spring.