What Does A Lightning Bug Eat

This chemically produced light from the lower abdomen may be yellow green or pale red with wavelengths from 510 to 670 nanomete.

What does a lightning bug eat.

The lampyridae are a family of insects in the beetle order coleoptera with more than 2 000 described species. Lightning bugs also eat other insect larvae and snails. Lightning bug larvae eat snails slugs and worms. Some species are arboreal and their larvae hunt tree snails.

Although some adults of certain firefly species might still catch other bugs for dinner most adults actually feed on nectar and pollen. According to national geographic some species do not seem to eat at all once they reach the adult stage which makes some sense once you learn that their entire life span is about 2 months. Some fireflies eat the nectar or pollen of flowers others eat smaller fireflies and some don t eat anything at all. Even better most species are predatory feeding on the larvae of insect pests as well as on slugs and snails.

They eat earthworms snails and slugs plus they may scavenge certain small dead animals and other organic material. Fireflies produce a cold light with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies. Lightning bug larvae live on the ground under bark and in moist swampy places. Placing copper strips or pennies in your hosta a favorite target of iowa s gray garden slugs hasn t been proven to prevent the slugs damage.

Several species of adult lightning bugs attempt to lure other species of lightning bugs so they can eat them. Other adult species sustain themselves with plant nectar. This is where the lightning bugs come in. But lightning bugs in their larval stage prey on slugs.

As they mature and turn into beetles they do one of several things depending on which species of firefly they are. They inject a digestive fluid onto their prey which immobilizes their prey. Some fireflies eat other types of fireflies. What a beneficial beetle.

Once they find their prey they inject them with a substance that immobilizes them. They eat earthworms snails and slugs plus they may scavenge certain small dead animals and other organic material. Attracting lightning bugs to your garden is definitely a good thing to do as unlike many other less desirable bugs these beneficial insects don t bite they aren t poisonous and they carry no diseases. Once predators get a bite they associate the unpleasant taste with firefly light and avoid attacking the lightning bugs in the future.

The larvae of most fireflies are predaceous beneficial insects that feed on snails slugs and worms. A few asian species use gills to breathe underwater where they eat aquatic snails and other mollusks. The second stage of the life cycle of a firefly is the larval stage to develop into a pupa the larvae generally eat small insects snails slugs earthworms dead animals and organic material that is available in their habitat.