glowworm

noun

Etymology: From Middle English glouworm; equivalent to glow + worm. Compare cognate German Glühwurm; compare also firefly, lightning bug, and lanternfly.

1. The larva or wingless grub-like female of a beetle from the families Phengodidae or Lampyridae that gives out a green light from its abdomen.

   “The glowworm shows the matin to be near And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire. Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.”

   “1604, William Alexander, The Alexandraean Tragedie, Act V, Scene 2, in The Monarchicke Tragedies, London: Ed. Blount, 1607, Some things afarre doe like the Glow-worme shine, That lookt to neere haue of that light no signe.”

2. A carnivorous gnat larva in the keroplatid genus Arachnocampa that spins threads to capture insects attracted by its glow.