Subject: Female Glowworm
Geographic location of the bug: Santa Fe, NM
Date: 07/16/2018
Time: 12:26 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: (Ed. Note: This came from a comment submitted to a very old Firefly posting on our site.) Saw and have photos of a presumed female in Santa Fe, NM on July 14, 2018. Bright constant glow. Have not seen one before in the 20 years living here.
We would love to review and possibly post your images. You may submit them by using the Ask What’s That Bug? link on our site. Please put “Female Glowworm” in the subject line to get our attention.
I used a flashlight for this photo. I have others but the attached one is the best.
How you want your letter signed: Cathy Frey
Hi Cathy,
Thanks so much for submitting your image. This appears to be a larviform female Firefly in the genus Microphotus, which is represented on BugGuide. Fireflies and Glowworms are both common names for different families of Beetles, and to further confuse things, Charles Hogue does refer to a California Beetle in this genus as a Pink Glowworm, when it is in fact a Firefly, which is proof that common names can often cause confusion. We do classify them together in the same beetle subcategory though they are not really that closely related.