Subject: Sabino canyon , Tucson AZ glow worm
Location: tucson. AZ, USA
September 27, 2015 10:06 pm
i ran across this bug during a night walk in Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ. It has a green glow in the tail.
It was in a riparian area but I found it on land crawling between two bodies of water.
I thought it might be s hellgrammite , but have not found a picture that is similar
Signature: thanks, Lance
Firefly Larva
Dear Lance,
This is not a Glowworm. It is a Firefly Larva and they are in distictly different families. We believe your individual is in the genus Microphotus which is limited to western states. Your individual looks very similar to this BugGuide image of Microphotus angustus, but that species is only reported in California. Four other members of the genus are reported in Arizona, according to BugGuide, but no images of the larva are available. Then again, it might be a member of a different genus.
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I just found a very small, about 3/8 in long tan color larve on a rock and one end was glowing like a small,white,led.I noticed it tonight. What could it be? I have lived here in ash fork, Arizona for 20 years and never seen anything like this before.
Sounds like a firefly larva.
We have fireflies in northern Arizona?
Yes. Here is the Firefly family distribution map in North America based on BugGuide data.