This family is distinct from the fireflies (family Lampyridae), which may also be called "glow-worms" in its larval stage.
Males may be luminescent, but females and larvae have a series of luminescent organs on trunk segments which emit yellow or green light, and sometimes an additional head organ which emits red light, as in railroad worms. Females are much larger than the males and are completely larviform. The winged males, which are often attracted to lights at night, are short-lived and probably do not feed. Larval and larviform female glowworms are predators, feeding on millipedes and other arthropods occurring in soil and litter. The family Rhagophthalmidae, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms.
Cydistinae Paulus, 1972 Mastinocerinae LeConte, 1881 Phengodinae LeConte, 1861
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