Photuris is a genus of fireflies (beetles of the family Lampyridae) wherein are the femme fatale fireflies of North America. This common name refers to the fact that the females of these predatory beetles mimic the light signals of other firefly species' males, to attract, kill, and eat them. Their flashing "lightning bug" signals seem to have evolved independently and eventually adapted to those of their prey, mainly unrelated Lampyrinae like Photinus (rover fireflies) or Pyractomena.

The Pennsylvania Firefly (P. pennsylvanica) is the state insect of Pennsylvania, and the Common Eastern Firefly (P. pyralis) one of the state insects of Tennessee.

Selected species

• Photuris cinctipennis
• Photuris lucicrescens
• Photuris pennsylvanica – Pennsylvania Firefly, Pennsylvania Lightning Bug
• Photuris pyralis – Common Eastern Firefly, Big Dipper Firefly
• Photuris quadrifulgens
• Photuris tremulans
• Photuris versicolor

Footnotes

References

• (2007): Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 45(1): 33-49. (HTML abstract)