The firefly, or lightning bug beetle, is the popular name of the luminescent insects of the Lampyridae family. In Tennessee, Photinus pyralls is the most familiar species. Their extraordinary light is generated in special organs and it is most often white, yellow, orange, greenish blue or reddish.
Rather small, they are blackish, brown, yellow or reddish in color. In certain species the females remain in the larvae state and are called glowworms.
The ladybeetle, more commonly called ladybug or ladybird beetle, is the popular name given the Coccinella 7. They are around four-tenths of an inch long, brightly colored, round, with the popular ladybug having four black spots on each wing.
Ladybugs are sold to farmers to control insect pests because they are important aphid predators. The life cycle is about four weeks as the ladybug larvae passes through four growth stages feeding on insects and insect eggs.
Courtesy of State of Tennessee
