Photuris pennsylvanica

Taxobox
name = Pennsylvania Firefly


image_width = 222px
image_caption = "Photuris pennsylvanica"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Coleoptera
familia = Lampyridae
genus = "Photuris"
species = "P. pennsylvanica"
binomial = "Photuris pennsylvanica"
binomial_authority = De Geer 1774 [ [http://www.cst.cmich.edu/USERS/DIETR1RV/zoogems/beetles.html] Central Michigan University]

"Photuris pennsylvanica", known by the common names Pennsylvania Firefly, Lightning Bug, [http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Pennsylvania/Insect_Firefly.html] State Symbols USA: Pennsylvania State Insect] Pennsylvania Lightning Bug, [ [http://tompawlesh.smugmug.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=403476&format=rss200] Insects and Beetles (Pennsylvania Lightning Bug, etc.)] and (in its larval state) Glowworm, [http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/speciesIndex/Genus_Photuris_105656_1.htm] NatureServe Explorer Species Index] is a species of firefly from the United States and Canada.

Description

"P. pennsylvanica" is a somewhat flattened beetle approximately 0.75 inch (2 cms) in length. Its primary color is black but it has two bright red eyespots on its thorax as well as yellow edging on its thorax and wing case. The species is carnivorous and feeds mostly on insects but also on other invertebrates such as land snails on occasion. The terminal segments of its abdomen are white-yellow and glow when the insect manifests its bioluminescence. [http://www.shgresources.com/pa/symbols/insect/] Pennsylvania Symbols, Insect: Firefly]

tate Insect

In 1974, "P. pennsylvanica" was designated the state insect of Pennsylvania. Its designation as such started with a group of Highland Park Elementary School students in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. [http://www.burger.com/fflink06.htm] Pennsylvania: The Keystone State] Fireflies are abundant in Pennsylvania and are enjoyed for their ability to "transform a midsummer night into a fairyland of tiny, brilliant twinkling lights" rather than being considered pests. Discovering that there was a species of firefly with the taxon "pennsylvanica", and that no other U.S. state had adopted a firefly as its state insect, the students began their campaign to have "P. pennsylvanica" made Pennsylvania's state insect.

With advice and support from state legislators, the students began a campaign that included letter writing, the circulation of petitions, and the distribution of bumper stickers. On April 10, 1974, Governor Milton J. Shapp signed their bill making the Pennsylvania Firefly their state's official insect. A couple of years later, Highland Park Elementary School was presented with a bronze plaque in honor of the students' achievement.

According to one source, Pennsylvanians best know fireflies as "lightning bugs" and may have confused "firefly" with "blackfly" when that state was plagued by them in 1988. This might be the reason why that year the legislature again confirmed the Pennsylvania Firefly's official status and specified it by scientific name so that:

The Firefly is the state insect, as enacted by the General Assembly on April 10, 1974. Act 130 of December 5, 1988, designated the particular species of firefly, "Poturis Pensylvanica De Geer" as the official state insect. [ [http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/quiz2/insect.htm] From "The Pennsylvania Manual"]

The firefly is also the state insect of Tennessee, but in this case the specific species referred to (if any) may be "P. pyralis ", the most common species of firefly in North America. [http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Tennessee/FIREFLY.html] State Symbols USA: Tennessee State Insect]

ee also

*List of U.S. state insects

References