The adults do not eat anything, and only live for 14-21 days, until the female has mated and laid eggs. The larvae live a little longer and are seen between April and October.Īdults are only around for a short period in June and July, and the larvae between April and October. The larvae are most often seen living under rocks on chalk or limestone grasslands and feeding on slugs and snails. They use sickle-shaped jaws to inject a toxin which both paralyses and liquefies their prey. Gardens, hedgerows, railway embankments, woodland rides, heathland and cliffs are all possible habitats for glow-worms. The female sits in high up on a grass stem at night emitting a steady (not flashing) yellowish-green light from the end of her abdomen. The male, larvae and eggs can also emit light, although much more weakly than the female. The light is used to attract a flying male.
20mm in length. The larvae have prominent pale yellowy-orange triangular markings at the side of each segment which are not present on the females. The female has a completely black back with a thin paler line down its centre, whilst the larvae tend to be more greyish-brown.
Despite their name, the glow-worm is actually a beetle, not a worm! The males look like typical beetles with wings and hard wing cases known as elytra. They are light brown in colour, have large photosensitive eyes, and measure c.15mm in length. The females look very similar to the larvae (known as larviform females), have no wings, and measure c.
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