Software
Houzz Logo Print
unbrokenchain42

pill bugs glowing

16 years ago

Hello All,

I was walking in my yard last night in southeastern PA and I was surprised to look down and find glowing bugs all throughout my lawn.i pay pretty close attention to the arthropods around me and I have never noticed this before. I picked one up in complete darkness, with no clue what it was and brought it inside.. to my surprise it was a pillbug. It was one of the species that has points at either end of each segment(of its body) pointing outwards to the sides, giving it a jagged profile (as opposed to the smooth-sided variety that seems a bit more common.)I tried to look it up online but found absolutely no information that mentions this.i teach environmental science so I would love to be able to explain to my students what was going on out there. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks:)

Comments (21)

  • 16 years ago

    They're glowworm beetles. Fascinating little creatures. My mother lives in SE PA and described these things to me. Last spring I visited her, and saw them for myself. Glowing green! I believe they belong to a closely related family of the lightning bug. Family classification: Phengodidae

    Here is a link that might be useful: Glowworms

  • 16 years ago

    Could also be the larvae of lightening bugs. The larvae also glow. If you could let us see a good image, a certain identification can be made. Or, better still, now that you have two options to investigate, look them up and let US know what you have!

  • 15 years ago

    I'm in south eastern PA and my friend and I are seeing a flying bug that glows like a lightning bug but orange... can't find any info about what it may be. Its def not a lightning bug because its 45 degrees and only March. Anybody know what it may be?

  • 15 years ago

    Another good glow worm

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • 6 years ago

    did you find out what it is yet

  • 5 years ago

    I have also witnessed pill bugs glowing.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    Do these various "pill bugs" mentioned above roll up in a ball when handled?

  • 5 years ago

    I'd believe in them if anyone had ever photographed them. :D

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I wish I had a photo of them glowing...

    Back in Minnesota in the mid-70's, I had a number of terrariums in my bedroom for keeping amphibians. During one feeding I introduced a dozen or so pill bugs to one of the frog tanks. The frogs didn't like their taste at all and wouldn't eat them.

    Some time later I was lying in bed at night with my eyes open and I kept seeing weak yellow-green flashes coming from the tank that I had introduced the pill bugs to. I walked over to the enclosure in the dark with a small flashlight and waited for the next flash. When it happened I pointed the light into the tank and saw a pill bug in the exact spot that I had seen the flash. The same thing happen a few more times over the course of 10 minutes.

    I've seen glow worms also and they can look superficially like pill bugs, but I know that what I was dealing with in this instance were definitely pill bugs. What I can't prove, is that it was the pill bugs that were actually bioluminating. I suppose there could have been something else unseen in the substrate that could have been producing the flashes. But, my guess/feeling is that it was the pill bugs...

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    I can't find any reference to glowing or bioluminescence in the family Armadillidiidae (pill bugs).

  • 5 years ago

    I can't either after a short search. Even though I no longer live in Minnesota, I'm going to collect a few of the local pill bugs and see what I can see... I'm not sure if they'll be the same species, but suzq_07 was in PA when she thought saw them glowing, so who knows.

    My daughter and I did find a fire fly larva on a hike earlier this year that was rolled up somewhat like a pill bug, but when it started crawling away it was obvious it wasn't by the number of legs.



  • 5 years ago

    I just noticed that the first comment was 11 years ago. We were just checking out a creek in Indiana tonight and kept seeing these green glowing spots, we were finally able to track one down, it was a regular looking rollie pollute. What's up with that. I have never seen this before.??

  • 5 years ago

    I remember seeing a post that said they were actually firefly larvae.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I'm seeing this phenom in North Carolina. Definitely not glow worms--they look like pill bugs, only a bit flatter and with pointier head and tail segments. Also, it's not a green glow--it's more blueish, like starlight.


    EDIT--Oh, what do you know, it is a firefly larva: https://www.jessicawalliser.com/2013/09/firefly-larva/

  • 4 years ago



  • 4 years ago

    can confirm Zuzu’s experience exactly replicated in south western NJ on 10/30/21. I believe they’re firefly larvae

  • 2 years ago

    With the flash on.....

    W

  • 2 years ago

    AAAnd



  • 2 years ago

    And off....

  • 2 years ago

    If you zoom in on the one with the flash on you can see the glowing segments have a lighter hue