This species of firefly was found by entomologists Santiago Zaragoza and Geovanni Rodríguez in the forests of the Sierra de Tapalpa, south of Jalisco, where Del Toro also originates.
The insect received the scientific name of Photinus guillermodeltoroiand it is one of the 48 species described in the study “Fireflies of the North West of Mexico”, of the Mexican Magazine of Biodiversity.
But why was named as the Mexican director and screenwriter? Entomologists have used names of important figures in Mexican culture such as Juan Rulfo, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to qualify each species in the study.
And according to Santiago Zaragoza, it is common for the working group to choose different names to name the species they analyze, honoring famous Mexican personalities and fellow entomologists from our country and the world.
In addition to being a sample of the richness of Mexico’s biodiversitythe recognition of this firefly and its christening with the name of Del Toro, is also a tribute to one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Mexican culture.
Mexico is considered the second richest country in terms of firefly diversity with 234 species included in 25 genera, which represents 25% of the world richness in this species.
Now, the next step for entomologists is to document the behavior of these little animals in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Pacific coast. If the existence of new species is confirmed, it would go from 280 known up to now to approximately 360.