Photinus cookii
Photinus cookii, or Cook's firefly is a species of day-active firefly in the beetle family Lampyridae.
It is found in North America in the Eastern USA, including Florida and Texas.
Description
P. cookii is a small beetle, with adults measuring long. The wing covers, or elytra, are dark, with wide, light-colored side margins. The head shield, or pronotum, is pale yellow with a dark bar in the center, reaching from the top of the pronotum to the base. The body has short hairs, which are visible with a microscope. P. cookii does not have working lanterns on its abdomen, although there may be small vestigial lanterns or light patches on the final 2 segments. The males and the females are similar in appearance.Etymology
The genus name Photinus is from the Greek word for shining or bright. The species was first described by John Wagener Green in 1956. The species is named as an honorific for Mr. Carl Cook, who had collected the holotype male and other specimens in Carilhope, Kentucky, 11-VII-1946. The species name is therefore noun in genitive case.Several years later Lloyd published an overview of Photinus in USA, and wrote the name as "Photinus cooki", perhaps considering it as a correction; but per nomenclatural regulations in ICZN 31.1, the original spelling of "cookii" is admissible and therefore it is subsequently retained.