The Photinini are a large tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 of fireflies

Fireflies

Fireflies is a novel by Shiva Naipaul originally published in 1970. It was his first book, a comic novel set in Trinidad. In an essay in An Unfinished Journey, Naipaul described how in 1968 as a final year student at Oxford University studying Chinese, he had been moved to write down a sentence,...

 in the subfamily Lampyrinae

Lampyrinae

The Lampyrinae are a large subfamily of fireflies . The exact delimitation, and the internal systematics, are a matter of debate; for long this group was used as a "wastebin taxon" to hold any fireflies with insufficiently resolved relationships...

. Photinus pyralis

Photinus pyralis

Photinus pyralis, known by the common names common eastern firefly and big dipper firefly, is the most common species of firefly in North America...

 is famous in biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

 for its luciferase

Luciferase

Luciferase is a generic term for the class of oxidative enzymes used in bioluminescence and is distinct from a photoprotein. One famous example is the firefly luciferase from the firefly Photinus pyralis. "Firefly luciferase" as a laboratory reagent usually refers to P...

 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

. This is sometimes employed as a marker gene

Marker gene

A marker gene is a gene used in molecular biology to determine if a nucleic acid sequence has been successfully inserted into an organism's DNA. There are two types of marker genes: a selectable marker and a marker for screening.-Selectable marker:...

; genetically modified organisms which contain it start to glow

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...

 like the firefly when brought in contact with luciferin

Luciferin

Luciferins are a class of light-emitting biological pigments found in organisms that cause bioluminescence...

-containing medium. Firefly luciferases differ slightly between taxa, resulting in differently-colored light and other properties, and in most cases where "firefly luciferase" is used in some application or study, it is the specific luciferase of P. pyralis

Systematics

The delimitation and relationships of the many genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

 are often insufficiently resolved. For example, Lamprohiza and Phausis

Phausis

Phausis is a genus of firefly beetles . These beetles are for the most part unimpressive in their appearance and behaviour, and thus have not drawn much study, and little is known about many of the species. Species in this genus are at least known from Europe and North America...

 as presently delimited are apparently paraphyletic in respect to each other. The Phosphaenini, containing Phosphaenus and some other genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

 from the Holarctic

Holarctic

The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...

, might indeed be a tribe distinct from the main North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n lineage of Photinini, as was once proposed. Phausis may be even more distinct.

Among the Lampyrinae

Lampyrinae

The Lampyrinae are a large subfamily of fireflies . The exact delimitation, and the internal systematics, are a matter of debate; for long this group was used as a "wastebin taxon" to hold any fireflies with insufficiently resolved relationships...

, the Phosphaenus group seems to occupy an even more basal position than the ancient and probably unrelated lineages assembled in the Cratomorphini

Cratomorphini

The Cratomorphini are a disputed tribe of fireflies of the large subfamily Lampyrinae. The genera placed here often contain well-sized members of their family. The larvae of many species climb trees to feed on snails. This group contains a few "lightning bugs" from North America, e.g. the genus...

 (a possibly invalid group); most do not produce any light and rely on pheromone

Pheromone

A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting outside the body of the secreting individual to impact the behavior of the receiving individual...

 communication instead, though Lamprohiza produces a continuous glowing light. The Photinus

Photinus (beetle)

The rover fireflies are a genus of fireflies . They are the type genus of tribe Photinini in subfamily Lampyrinae. This genus contains, for example, the common eastern firefly , the state insect of Tennessee.Male Photinus beetles emit a flashing light pattern to signal for females...

 group, on the other hand, contains flashing "lightning bug

Lightning Bug

Lightning Bug can refer to:* A firefly, particularly North American Photinus, Photuris and Pyractomena* Lightning Bug , a 2004 horror film by writer/director Robert Hall* Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug, an unmanned aerial vehicle...

s" and some who have lost the ability to produce light signals, and is apparently much closer related to the advanced Lampyrini

Lampyrini

The Lampyrini are a tribe of fireflies in the large subfamily Lampyrinae. The lineage formerly separated as Pleotomini seems to be a specialized offshoot of the Lampyrini not too distant from the type genus Lampyris and is therefore included here. This tribe occurs throughout the Holarctic and...

.

Selected genera

Photinini sensu stricto:

• Ellychnia Blanchard, 1845
• Photinus
  Photinus (beetle)
  The rover fireflies are a genus of fireflies . They are the type genus of tribe Photinini in subfamily Lampyrinae. This genus contains, for example, the common eastern firefly , the state insect of Tennessee.Male Photinus beetles emit a flashing light pattern to signal for females...
  
   – rover fireflies (possibly paraphyletic)
• Pyropyga Motschulsky, 1852

Possibly separable as Phosphaenini:

• Lamprohiza
• Lucidota Laporte, 1833
• Phosphaenus Laporte, 1833
• Phosphaenopterus

The puzzling genus Lucidina might also belong here.

Incertae sedis:

• Macrolampis
• Phausis
  Phausis
  Phausis is a genus of firefly beetles . These beetles are for the most part unimpressive in their appearance and behaviour, and thus have not drawn much study, and little is known about many of the species. Species in this genus are at least known from Europe and North America...