The male glow-worm looks like an ordinary beetle with hard wing cases, however the flightless female has flattened body sections and no wings at all.
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| Male glow worm (Phosphaenus hemipterus) © John Horne |
The female is larger than the male and she can produce a bright greenish-yellow glow from the underside of the last two sections of her body. This glow is caused by a chemical reaction within the beetle and it is used to attract a mate. It’s not unusual to find several male glow-worms trying to mate with the same female! The females glow for several hours at a time as soon as it gets dark but switch of their glow once they have mated.
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| Female glow worm © John Horne |
Young glow-worms look very like the wingless females, however they produce a weak intermittent light that is easily overlooked.
Click here to find out more about these amazing creatures on the UK glow worm survey home page.
