08/22/2024 – 21:09
In nature, males usually go after females to mate. But what if, instead of a female, they find a trap? That’s what scientists have discovered happens to fireflies flying over fields in Wuhan, China.
Among the tropical Asian fireflies of the species Abscondita terminalis, males and females have different light patterns used to attract mates. Males flash in a rapid double pattern with two flashlights on their abdomen, while females flash with a single flashlight slowly.
Some males can change this light pattern in cases where they want to stand out from the rest. However, biologists noticed that males were changing the way they blinked when captured by spiders of the species Araneus ventricosus. As a result, other males are attracted, thinking they are going to meet a female. When they get there, they are also preyed on by the spider. The study was recently published in the journal Current Biology.
The research began when Xinhua Fu from Huazhong Agricultural University noticed a phenomenon happening to fireflies in Wuhan, with several webs with only males trapped in them. Daiqin Li from the National University of Singapore then joined the study.
Together, the two biologists studied 161 spider webs in the field, and divided them into four groups:
– those that had a male firefly in the orb and a spider;
– those that only had the firefly, without the spider;
– those that had both, but the firefly lantern was painted black;
– and the webs that were alone.
As a result, the scientists observed that the webs that had the complete system, with a trapped male firefly and a spider, captured up to seven other male fireflies. On the other hand, the webs that did not have a spider caught no more than two other fireflies.
Another important piece of information recorded is that the behavior of the spiders changed in the different groups. When the firefly has a flashlight, the spider does not devour it all at once, but leaves it alive so that it continues to flash. Fireflies with painted flashlights, on the other hand, are devoured immediately when captured.
Although the results are quite intriguing, more research is still needed. It is not known for sure whether the spider manipulates the firefly’s light on purpose, or whether its venom paralyzes one of the insect’s lanterns.
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