An amazing little insect

Found on a walk around the neighborhood:

That's a "railroad worm," also known as a "glowworm," also known, most precisely, as Phrixothrix hirtus.

This specimen is an adult female. Strangely, the females keep the appearance as a larva (they call it a "larviform" species) whereas the males mature into a beetle form.

Though I kept this gal in a jar until after dark, she wouldn't glow. I set her free in my blueberry patch where she promptly buried herself in the mulch.

What do they eat? Millipedes! This is good, since nothing else seems to eat those creepy grey monsters.

For more on the railroad worm, click here.