Ignelater luminosus

Ignelater luminosus, known as the cucubano, is a species of click beetle native to the island of Puerto Rico. Cucubanos are often confused with fireflies, which are in a different family (Lampyridae), as they can also emit light from the thorax. Their paired prothorax light organs and single light organ on the anterior surface of the abdomen gives the appearance of two "headlights" and one "backlight", which it can turn off independently.

Ignelater luminosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Elateridae
Subfamily: Agrypninae
Tribe: Pyrophorini
Genus: Ignelater
Species:
I. luminosus
Binomial name
Ignelater luminosus
(Illiger, 1807)
Synonyms
  • Elater luminosus Illiger, 1807
  • Pyrophorus pyralis Germar, 1841
  • Pyrophorus luminosus (Illiger, 1807)

Because light pollution interferes with their reproduction, they prefer rural areas without much development.[1]

Locations known to be its habitat are the rural areas and outskirts of the city of Adjuntas, located in the mountains.

They average about 1 in (25 mm) in length.

A Puerto Rican firefly is called a cucullo which is a true firefly, also native to Puerto Rico. Cucullos average half an inch in length. The color of both of these insects' lights is bright green.

The genome of Ignelater luminosus was sequenced in 2018.[2]

References
  1. Turpin, F. T.. Prof. of Entomology. Purdue University. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  2. Fallon, Timothy R; Lower, Sarah E; Chang, Ching-Ho; Bessho-Uehara, Manabu; Martin, Gavin J; Bewick, Adam J; Behringer, Megan; Debat, Humberto J; Wong, Isaac; Day, John C; Suvorov, Anton; Silva, Christian J; Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F; Hall, David W; Schmitz, Robert J; Nelson, David R; Lewis, Sara M; Shigenobu, Shuji; Bybee, Seth M; Larracuente, Amanda M; Oba, Yuichi; Weng, Jing-Ke (2018). "Firefly genomes illuminate parallel origins of bioluminescence in beetles". eLife. 7. doi:10.7554/eLife.36495. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 6191289. PMID 30324905.
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