Glow worm

 

The glow-worm belongs to the group of beetles called fireflies. It is found along the river Kongeå, and the greatest chance of seeing it is in the early summer around midsummer's eve.

 

The glow-worm lives in damp soil, for example in bogs, meadows and shadowy forest floors.

 

Among other things, the glow-worm larva lives off snails, which it bites and paralyzes with a deadly poison. After killing the larva, it chews a digestive enzyme into the snail. The enzyme turns the snail into a soup-like liquid that the larva can consume.

 

 

The males fly around looking for the glowing females. The females cannot fly, but they attract males by switching on a small white-green diode on the abdomen. When darkness falls, you can see them lit up as small bright green spots in the tall grass.

 

The glow-worm's ability to emit light is present throughout all stages of its development, and even the egg can light up. The ability is particularly well developed in the wingless female.

 

 

 

Length female: 16-25 mm

Length, male: 11-12 mm

 

The male's wing cases are black-brown with a yellow-brown border. The feelers and legs are brownish.

 

 

The female is long, flat and larval like. Brownish on the upper side and pink  at the sides. It has neither wings nor wing cases.

 

Common in Mid Jutland. Rare in southern Jutland, Northwestern Sealand and Bornholm.