Subject: Re: Help in Identification

From: [email-masked] (Christopher Majka)
Date: 22 Jan 95 17:58:24 -0400

With apologies to sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera readers where this post
ought *not* to have appeared, however, for those whose curiosity might have 
been piqued:

[email-masked] (Hieronymus) (sic) writes:

> I was recently on a rafting trip on the Tambopata river in Peru.  We were
> located in the Amazon basin.  I saw a bug there that was absolutely
> incredible.  As it was nighttime, I first became aware of it's presence by
> green light being emitted (as opposed to reflected) from it's eyes.  The
> emitted light varied in intensity from moment to moment almost like low
> and high beam headlights.  We turned a flashlight on to see what it looked
> like.  It appeared to be about 2 inches long and moth-like in appearance.
> Eventually this bug took to flight and emitted both yellow AND red light
> simultaneously.  It looked like a tiny airplane!  I wouldn't have believed
> such a creature could exist if I hadn't seen it myself.  Everyone in our
> group (10 of us) agree with the facts I've described.
> Does anybody out there know anything about the identity of this bug?

This insect is a member of the genus _Pyrophorus_, a tropical American 
group of Click Beetles (Elateridae). According to Walter Linsenmaier
(1972, Insects of the World):

"Their usually green light appears in two places: on the prothoracic
shield, in from of it's sharply pointed rear corners, and below, at the base of 
the abdomen. Certain species have a red-dish abdominal light and can flash in two colours, like a traffic signal light."

The specimen illustrated is 2 inches long and looks (of course) nothing like a 
moth.

Cheers!

Christopher Majka