Aquatica lateralis
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Once grown, Heike firefly larvae leave the water and become pupae in the soil.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Aquatica lateralis
- Scientific name
- Aquatica lateralis
- Japanese name
- ヘイケボタル
- Group
- Insects
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Coleoptera
- Family
- Lampyridae
- Genus
- Aquatica
It is also listed under the scientific name Luciola lateralis.
A firefly with a light organ on its belly; adults appear from early summer into summer.
It looks like the Genji firefly but is smaller, and its red chest has a black stripe down the middle.
Its larvae live in the water of rice paddies and marshes and grow by eating pond snails and other snails.
How the Aquatica lateralis lives
It lays its eggs on moss or grass stems by the water. Larvae also live beneath stones in the water. Adults live in bushes and grassy places near rice paddies.
多摩動物公園Basic data
- Size
- Body length: males about 9 mm, females about 12 mm
- Diet
- Freshwater snails including pond snails
- Range
- Japan, South Korea, and eastern Siberia
Where the Aquatica lateralis has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 多摩動物公園 — ヘイケボタルChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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