Last night I went to the garden to pull some fresh carrots and spotted the bio luminescent glow of this insect which until now, I always thought was a glowworm. I first found this insect here in 2004 and each fall thereafter. One fall they were so abundant and literally everywhere even throughout the forest. They were spread out no more than a metre (3 feet) apart.
I first thought that this was a glowworm but I bought a new book on Insects titled Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America ISBN-10:0-618-15310-1 and it clearly identifies this glowing insect as the larva of a firefly[Genus Photuris for sure and probably photuris pennsylvanica.] This makes total sense because we experience many fireflies in our fields in the evenings and all summer long it seems. The typical glowworm on the other hand has a real worm-like appearance. It is typically long and cylindrical and not at all like this insect.
Firefly larvae prey on snails which is a good thing. We have no shortage of them either.
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