Photinus

LamprohizaSuperregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Coleopterida
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Elateriformia
Superfamilia: Elateroidea

Familia: Lampyridae
Subfamilia: Lampyrinae
Tribus: Photinini
Genus: Photinus
Species: P. abrilae – P. ahuizotli – P. alexi – P. amoenoides – P. anagabrielae – P. andresi – P. ater – P. australis – P. badilloae – P. carolinus – P. cempoalli – P. chabooae – P. chapingoensis – P. congruus – P. corrusca – P. cubilguitzi – P. dugesi – P. erici – P. extensus – P. florae – P. floridanus – P. fuscus – P. gorhami – P. guatemalae – P. helgae – P. hendrichsi – P. hidalgoensis – P. hoffmanni – P. hymenodrilus – P. interdius – P. kuaukali – P. lineella – P. lucilae – P. lynnfaustae – P. maculiventris – P. malinalli – P. malinalxochiltlae – P. marcelae – P. marginella – P. marquezi – P. mayorgae – P. molangoensis – P. morelosensis – P. moralesae – P. morronei – P. nayeliae – P. ojiviformis – P. palaciosi – P. pallens – P. pararuficollis – P. producta – P. punctulatus – P. pyralis – P. ruficollis – P. saniphallos – P. simplex – P. sturmii – P. tanytoxis – P. temazcalli – P. tepetzala – P. tepeyollotli – P. tezozomoci – P. toledoi – P. vegai – P. wageneri – P. westcotti – P. xipei – P. zacualtipanensis – P. zempoalensis – P. zongolicaensis
Name

Photinus Laporte, 1833: 140

Type species: Photinus pallens Fabricius, 1798
Synonymy

Ellychnia Blanchard, 1845 (synonymized by Zaragoza-Caballero et al., 2020: 10)
Macrolampis Motschulsky 1853 (synonymized by Zaragoza-Caballero et al., 2020: 10)

References
Primary references

Laporte, F.L. 1833. Essai d'une revision du genre lampyre. Annales de la Société entomologique de France 2: 122–153. BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Pérez-Hernández, C.X., Zaragoza-Caballero, S. & Romo-Galicia, A. 2022. Updated checklist of the fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) of Mexico. Zootaxa 5092(3): 291–317. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5092.3.3. Paywall. Reference page.
Zaragoza-Caballero, S., López-Pérez, S., Vega-Badillo, V., Domínguez-León, D.E., Rodríguez-Mirón, G.M., González-Ramírez, M., Gutiérrez-Carranza, I.G., Cifuentes-Ruiz, P. & Zurita-García, M.L. 2020. Fireflies from central Mexico (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): description of 37 new species. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 91: 1–70. DOI: 10.22201/ib.20078706e.2020.91.3104. Open access. Reference page.
Zurita-García, M.L., Domínguez-León, D.E., Vega-Badillo, V., González-Ramírez, M., Gutiérrez-Carranza, G., Rodríguez-Mirón, G.M., López-Pérez, S., Cifuentes-Ruiz, P., Aquino-Romero, M. & Zaragoza-Caballero, S. 2022. Life cycle and description of the immature stages of a terrestrial firefly endemic to Mexico: Photinus extensus Gorham (Coleoptera, Lampyridae). Zookeys 1104ː 29–54. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1104.80624 Open access Reference page.

Vernacular names
English: Rover firefly

The rover fireflies (Photinus) are a genus of fireflies (family Lampyridae). They are the type genus of tribe Photinini in subfamily Lampyrinae. This genus contains, for example, the common eastern firefly (P. pyralis), the most common species of firefly in North America.

Male Photinus beetles emit a flashing light pattern to signal for females. Illegitimate receivers, such as female Photuris beetles, identify these signals and use them to locate the male Photinus, attract them with deceptive signals, and eat them.

Systematics

The closest living relative of the rover fireflies is not yet determined with certainty. In morphology, they resemble their predators, the Photurinae, but they are quite certainly not at all closely related as fireflies go. Rather, the genus Ellychnia is either the closest relative of Photinus, or might even be included in it. Ellychnia are notable for having lost the ability to produce light again, and like the ancestors of all fireflies, communicate with pheromones only. It might thus be warranted to remove some species from Photinus and assign them different genera.[1]

The genus Pyropyga is also a close relative, though it is certainly not as close as Ellychnia. This group makes up the core of the tribe Photinini, and in fact it seems warranted to restrict the tribe to these genera, but more research is still needed, in particular with regard to Photinus and Ellychnia, as the relationship of their type species ("Photinus pallens" and Ellychnia corrusca) remains completely unknown, with the latter also suspected to be a cryptic species complex. Tropical species of Photinus are also not well studied.[1]
Selected species

Photinus australis Green, 1956[2]
Photinus carolinus Green, 1956[2] noted for synchronous flashing
Photinus consanguineus LeConte, 1852[3]
Photinus concisus Lloyd, 1968
Photinus floridanus Fall, 1927
Photinus fuscus
Photinus harveyi Buck, 1947[4]
Photinus pallens (Fabricius, 1798)[5] – Jamaican Firefly
Photinus punctulatus LeConte, 1852
Photinus pyralis – common eastern firefly, big dipper firefly
Photinus tanytoxis Lloyd, 1966