What does "lanternfly" mean?

Any of various insects in the family Fulgoridae, especially in the genera Fulgora and Pyrops, with brilliant coloration.

What is a synonym for "lanternfly"?

Common synonyms include: lantern beetle, lantern beetle.

Lanternfly

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any of various insects in the family Fulgoridae, especially in the genera Fulgora and Pyrops, with brilliant coloration.

Synonyms

All synonyms

lantern beetle lantern beetle

Etymology

From lantern + fly. The name came about because of claims that some Fulgoridae are luminous at night. European and Euro-American writers, including Maria Sibylla Merian and Carl Linnaeus, said that the claims came from Indigenous peoples in South America. (Merian had visited Suriname.) Various names, including lanternfly, the specific name laternaria, and various other (current or former) scientific names, came out of this belief. Compare names for insects that do in fact glow at night: firefly, lightning bug, glow fly, and glowworm.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.