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Species of the month

Common European Glowworm

Some facts about this beetle:

Average Size: The adult female is 12–20 mm long, while males rarely grow longer than 10 mm. The larvae are often only a few milimetres long.
Protection status: Not assessed. In many areas, in severe decline and local extinction linked to light pollution, which prevents the males from finding the females to breed.
Diet: Even though they are small in size the larvae are fierce carnivores, roaming leaf litter in search of tiny slugs and snails. Adults rarely feed at all.
Range: From Portugal and Britain in the west, right across Europe and Asia to China in the east. It also survives further north than any other firefly, almost reaching the Arctic Circle. For example, it is fairly common in south- and central Sweden and southern Finland.
Strange fact: The light of this firefly is actually cold light, producing very little wasted heat. When glowing, only 2–10 percent of the energy is wasted as heat, with 90–98 percent of the energy converted into light. This makes the process much, much more energy efficient than any light sources ever manufactured by humans.