Lightning Bug Larvae
I received an email from Tim Kelly with a question “about a bug my son and I ran into while camping and fishing in Southern Missouri. The river was at flood stage so we couldn’t fish but we had fun just camping and goofing around in the Ozarks. Every night while we were setting around the campfire we began to see small white lights in the grass around us. At first I thought it was water drops, then spiders with their eyes reflecting the campfire, but after I captured a couple of the bugs, it turned out to be a small, sowbug-isopod looking insect, and its underside glowed. Not a yellow light like a lightning bug but a real white light. It was not a reflection, the underside of the bug would actually light up. Can you tell me what it may have been?”
I was not certain, but a quick online search only indicated fireflies and glow-worms as insects with bioluminescence. I advised Tim to go online and search under bioluminescence until he found something that looked like the critter he saw.
The next day, I received a copy of an email to Tim from Alane Dubbert, Naturalist, Runge Conservation Nature Center, in Jefferson City, MO. In it, Alane explained that they were lightning bug larvae. I went online and immediately found this link that shows the larvae very well: http://www.backyardnature.net/lightbug.htm
Here it is–it does look like an Isopod. Thanks to Tim for sharing his story with us.