Glowing Insects

There are many types of glowing insects with lights that you can see at night. Along with different colors of fireflies, I’ve been able to find many species of glowing bugs in the Montezuma area.

In addition to these species, you can often find what looks like small, thin glowing centipedes, which I’ve been told are the larval stage of fireflies. They have a single light on their forehead that doesn’t flash, and can be found crawling around the jungle floor during rainy season at night.

A bug with SEVEN lights! Recently (2012) I also found a different type of Click beetle, that had two lights on the forehead (non-blinking) AND five lights on the belly. A total of seven lights on this guy! Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of it before it escaped.

This large glowing beetle is an inch long. At night, you can find them by the large glow coming from their abdomen. If you move your hand near them, they will glow in warning.	The backside of this large glowing beetle has five individual glow spots, easily seen in daylight in this photo.	This is one of the weirdest bugs around. As it walks, it curls its tail underneath repeatedly, unlike any other creature I’ve ever seen. Thanks to nature photographer Steve Nanz for identifying it as a firefly larva. Check out his bug photos here: SteveNanz.com. I still want to know what type of glowing adult bug this turns into!

The most amazing bug in Costa Rica! The click beetle has two glowing lights on its head that are so bright, you can pick them up and read using the light. The lights don’t blink, but the glow intensifies as a warning. If the beetle gets scared enough, it will snap itself in a way that makes it jump out of your hand, and a loud noise will scare the crap out of you. I first saw these at night in Monteverde and was thrilled to discover that they also live in Montezuma.

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