Fire Beetle (Glowing Click Beetle)

Description:

About 1 5/8" long, shiny black. This is a calm beetle, and the click function works well when it lands upside down.

Habitat:

I found this beetle in secondary rainforest in the Maya Mts. of western Belize.

Notes:

I watched these from my veranda after dark, looping through the rainforest mid and lower canopy like fireflies (but not blinking). One came into my house, and in the semi-dark room I could see its "headlights" on its underside lighting up the wall ahead of it, while the spotlights on its thorax glowed from the upper side. In the photo you can see both the dorsal lights and the glow from the ventral light on the shiny plastic it was photographed on.