Nature - Wild Life - Insect Life - glow worm belongs to the Lampyridae family, which is Greek for "shining ones," and includes species known as fireflies or lightning bugs. Contrary to its name, it is not worm-like, but a beetle. These beetles are typically the most active at night and spend their day under debris, or in the ground. The larvae are also nocturnal and rarely seen - only coming out when the conditions are right in the months of April through October. The larvae are fierce predators and roam leaf litter in search of slugs and snails. They do this by injecting their prey with digestive enzymes and then consuming the liquefied internal contents. In stark contrast, the adult glow worms lack mouthparts entirely, rendering them unable to eat.The predatory larvae feed for two or three years on slugs and snails which they inject with a brown, toxic, digestive fluid, delivered by a series of nips and bites. The poison takes time to work, and the larva must to be careful not to become stuck to any protective mucus that its prey may secrete. The prey is gradually paralysed and the digestive fluid turns part of it into a brown broth that the larva can lap up. The prey remains alive, and some partially eaten victims have been known to crawl away after the meal.
The slugs and snails are often 200 times the weight of the beetle larva. The larvae are nocturnal, and are most active during moist conditions, when their prey are most active. They spend winters under logs, stones, wood holes, or leaf litter, their bodies drawn in like concertinas, hibernating as food becomes increasingly difficult to find. They awaken in spring, and the cycle is repeated for one more year, or possibly two.
They become adults from May to July or sometimes later, surviving on food reserves accumulated during time as a larva, and dying after reproducing.
13 май 2024
