Natures wonders: trapped male fireflies lure dinner (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, August 20, 2024, 16:44 (93 days ago) @ David Turell

TEh spider changes the male behavior:

https://www.science.org/content/article/spiders-force-male-fireflies-flash-females-luri...

"...Some orb-weaving spiders force trapped male fireflies to mimic the flashes of females, researchers report today in Current Biology, drawing ever more males into their webs.

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"Among tropical Asian fireflies of the species Abscondita terminalis, both males and females flash to find mates, but their flashes are not the same. Females make slow, single pulses with a sole “lantern” in their abdomen, whereas males flash in quick succession from dual abdominal lanterns.

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"Webs with a flashing firefly guarded by a spider caught up to seven male fireflies, the team found. Webs without spiders, in contrast, caught no more than two fireflies.

"The researchers also found that the spiders behaved differently depending on whether the fireflies’ lights were visible: If the fireflies’ lanterns were not covered, the spiders would promptly wrap and bite them, keeping the insects alive and allowing their lights to continue to flicker. The spiders would also do that with males that fell into the trap after the first male was captured. Conversely, if the firefly lanterns were obscured with ink and did not flicker, the spiders ate the insects right away. “Perhaps spiders simply misidentify the firefly with the blackened-out lanterns as some other insect,” the authors say.

"After analyzing the light patterns of the fireflies trapped in the webs, Fu and Li confirmed their suspicions: The males were only using one of their lanterns, mimicking the pattern of the females.

"In the animal kingdom, some predators can manipulate their environment or their own behavior to lure in additional prey. However, a predator changing the behavior of prey to attract more prey is not as commonly observed, Lewis says. The closest case is some parasites that alter host behavior, such as the “zombie ant fungus” (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis), which infects ants and compels them to climb vegetation, helping the fungus grow."

Comment: this study does not clearly show how the spider manipulates its prey. The spider's actions appear to be a learned behavior. Zombie ant fungus has been recorded here.