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bioluminescent grub?

waxtadpole Jul 19, 2006 09:34 PM

I found this little guy outside under a bush tonight. It's about 2 to 2.5 inches long when not moving or streched out. Has a small head with 6 tiny legs close to the body on the first 1/4 to 1/2 inch following the head. It glows at it's segments in the dark. I am trying the beetle forum since I believe it is some kind of grub and will eventually become a beetle. But I am stumped.

Here are the few photos I have taken, I had to let the poor fellow go. The second set of pics show him in a bowl on the desk. His head is to the right side of the picture. What in the world is this? I've never seen anything with biolume outside of the sea.

Sorry about the huge images.




Replies (2)

lizardman Jul 21, 2006 11:36 PM

Looks like the larval form of the "Railroad worm"-family Phengodidae. I'm not sure of the species, due to no mention of location. Attached is a link to some info on this family. You may have some ID success with bugguide.net.
Link

waxtadpole Jul 23, 2006 10:28 PM

Yep that's the one. Location for this was central North Carolina.
Thanks for the link.

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