Abstract
Elaterid beetle larvae. Pyrearinus termitilluminans (sp.n., Costa, 1982.) live in termite mounds in central Brazil. Each larva produces light in the segment immediately behind its head. Larvae were observed to luminesce only during the first weeks of the rainy season, the same times as the ant and termite alate flights. Alates, apparently attracted to P. termitilluminans larval lights, serve as an important food source for the larvae. The prey-catching and food-storing behavior and the phenomenon of bioluminescence are apparently an evolutionary response by P. termitilluminans larvae to a short, rich pulse of food. Prey attraction as a probable cause for luminescence has been suggested only twice before.
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