phengo-, pheng-
(Greek: light, splendor, luster, sunlight, daylight)
Don't confuse the words in this unit with those in the pheno-, phen- unit.
The beetle family Phengodidae is also known as "glowworm beetles" or "glowworms"
Larval and larviform female glowworms are predators, feeding on millipedes and other arthropods that exist in soil and litter. The winged males, which are often attracted to lights at night, live for a short time and probably do not feed.
Females are much larger than the males and are completely larviform. Males may be luminescent, but females and larvae have a series of luminescent organs on their trunk segments which produce yellow or green light, and sometimes an additional head organ which exhibits red light, as in "railroad worms".
We mustn't fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world.
Etymologically related "light, shine, glow" word families: ethero-; fulg-; luco-; lumen-, lum-; luna, luni-; lustr-; pheno-; phospho-; photo-; scinti-, scintill-; splendo-.