When you buy through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
A few age ago , nature photographer Jeff Cremer find tiny pinpricks of beam luminousness in a rampart of Earth in Peru . When he direct a closer feel , he discovered a mysterious metal money of glow worm . Cremer brought the glow worm to the attention of entomologists . It change by reversal out that these little glowing worm were actually larvae of a beetle species . Though scientists still do n’t know the accurate species , standardised click beetles have been found in Brazil . [ Read the full story on the glow worms ] ( Photo deferred payment : Jeff Cremer / Perunature.com )
Night lighter
Cremer saw the first signs of the mysterious mallet in a paries of Earth near the Tambopata Research Center in the Peruvian Amazon . When he got a penny-pinching look , he found several dozen worm that were about 0.5 inches ( 1.27 centimeter ) in length .
Predatory dirt ball
When entomologists took a look , they pull in that the glow worms were larvae from a spcies of click beetle , which belong to to the family Eliteredae . sink in beetle typically make a clicking motion to quickly escape vulture . Though over 10,000 of the beetles have been describe , only 200 are bioluminescent , or give off luminousness .
Hungry predatory animal
The beetle larvae probably beam green to lure quarry such as ants and stick insert . When presented with these insects , the worms readily devour them . While most beetles dine on flowers and other plant - matter , their larvae are mostly predatory . The dirt ball wait with jaws open , and as soon as an ant or a termite fly ball in , their jaws clamp keep out .
Bioluminescent relatives
Though no one knows exactly what coinage of click beetle they ’ve find , the occult creature may be related to the Brazilian fervidness beetle . These fire beetles colonise termite mound and make ethereal glowing tugboat in the night . These bizarre glowing mounds can be seen at Emas National Park in Brazil .
seeable interior
Like an X - ray , the bioluminescence lights up the digestive organization and gland inside the larval organic structure . Most bioluminescent coinage , including Brazilian fire mallet , glow because of a atom known as luciferin , which may be produced inside the glands revealed here .
family unit member
The squad does n’t yet have intercourse if this is a completely unexampled metal money of glow insect or a subspecies of click beetle related to the Brazilian fire beetle . They are currently consulting with experts in Brazil to retrieve out .
Attack !
The research worker likened the lilliputian but voracious larvae to the man - eating worm in the camp 1990 film " Tremors . " Just like those monster , these little glow worms lie in wait in the Earth and then come forth to clamp their jaws close over ants or other insects . Of naturally , these larva are unlikely to eat humans any time shortly .
Many unknown
The click beetle family , or Eliteredae , includes yard of species , but the Pyrophorus group admit about 26 species that stray from Mexico to the West Indies . Unlike other bioluminescent bugs , such as flickering Pyrophorus noctiluca , these rapacious larvae are cosntantly glowing .
