Photinus brimleyi

P. brimleyi is a medium-sized beetle, with adults measuring 10–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long. Males and females have very different appearances. The males have dark wing covers, or elytra, with wide, blurred, light-colored side margins, and a pale yellow head shield, or pronotum, with a dark central mark shaped like a mushroom or a teardrop. Flat-lobed lanterns are visible on the male's abdomen. The larviform female resembles a colorful pink and yellow grub with no wings and very small elytra.^[2]

Photinus is from the Greek word for 'shining' or 'bright'.^[6] The specific epithet is in honor of the naturalist Clement Samuel Brimley,^[2] who mentioned the species in his 1938 Insects of North Carolina, although it was not named until John Wagener Green published Revision of the Nearctic species of "Photinus" in 1956.^[7]

Beetles such as P. brimleyi go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Photinus fireflies spend the majority of their lives as larvae, which are bioluminescent and likely live below the soil surface, eating snails, worms, and other soft-bodied invertebrates. Adults appear in mid-summer, from late June to early August.^[1][2]

Adult male P. brimleyi fireflies fly 0.3–2 m (1.0–6.6 ft) off the ground and flash to attract the attention of females, starting at sunset or about 15 minutes after sunset. Their flash pattern consists of a fast sideways arc that doubles back on itself. After flashing, the male flies 1–2 m (3–7 ft) forward, then flashes again, about 1.5 to 2.5 seconds later. A female responds with an answering flash from the entrance of her burrow or from a perch up to 15 cm (6 in) high on low vegetation. The male and female communicate in this way until the male finds the female and they mate.^[2][8]