{"id":308172,"date":"2026-03-01T16:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308172\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:24:21","slug":"this-tiny-carnivorous-bug-produces-an-astonishing-natural-spectacle-in-new-zealand-and-has-an-ingenious-way-of-catching-its-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308172\/","title":{"rendered":"This tiny carnivorous bug produces an astonishing natural spectacle in New Zealand and has an ingenious way of catching its prey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/bioluminescent-mammals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Glow worms <\/a>are well-known throughout the world as remarkable insects that give off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/bioluminescence-explained-why-glow-worms-glow\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bioluminescent<\/a> light. But New Zealand is home to an amazing version of glow worms \u2013 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/glow-worms-waitomo-caves-new-zealand\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arachnocampa luminosa<\/a> \u2013 and they are responsible for one of the most stunning natural spectacles in the world.<\/p>\n<p>The common glow worm, or Lampyris noctiluca, is actually a beetle, not a worm, but the Arachnocampa luminosa is a species only found in New Zealand, and is in fact a type of gnat.<\/p>\n<p>These fungus gnats are responsible for the amazing blue twinkling lights seen covering miles of cave networks in the country. Tourist attractions such as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/holidays-days-out\/travel-planner\/worldwide-holidays-directory\/what-is-noctourism\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Waitomo\u00a0<\/a>caves enable you to enter huge caverns that are filled with\u00a0Arachnocampa luminosa.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Waitomo-caves-getty-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Water exit to Waitomo Caves in New Zealand where you can see the bioluminiscent glow worms arachnocampa luminosa\" class=\"wp-image-154075\"\/>Waitomo Caves in the North Island of New Zealand. Credit: rumboalla\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The carnivorous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/winter-gnats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gnats<\/a> tend to live in dark, damp spots and it is the larvae that produce the bioluminescent light they give off, which is created through a chemical reaction between an enzyme and oxygen.  <\/p>\n<p>The larvae produce silk which they make into a nest on cave ceilings and then hang threads covered in sticky mucus. Prey is attracted to the larvae&#8217;s glow and then caught on the threads. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/holidays-days-out\/travel-planner\/worldwide-holidays-directory\/what-is-noctourism\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Waitomo Glowworm Cave<\/a> is one of several glow worm tourist attractions in New Zealand and visitors can tour by boat around the vast network of caves, lit up by the animals. It was first properly explored in 1887 by M\u0101ori chief Tane Tinorau and the English surveyor Fred Mace. The limestone caves were formed over millions of years and there are around 300 known caves in the Waitomo region. But Arachnocampa luminosa can be found in many areas across New Zealand, including Te Anau and Wellington Botanical Gardens.<\/p>\n<p>Top image: New Zealand glow worms. Credit: Martin Vlnas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glow worms are well-known throughout the world as remarkable insects that give off bioluminescent light. But New Zealand&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-308172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}