Aggressive Mimicry in
            <i>Photuris</i>
            : Firefly Femmes Fatales

Lloyd, James E.

doi:10.1126/science.149.3684.653

Cited by 202 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Other araneophagic salticids practise aggressive mimicry by invading webs and, by manipulating silk lines, simulating signals that normally come from courting males or ensnared insects ( Jackson & Pollard 1996). 'Femmes fatale' fireflies that lure heterospecific males by mimicking the flashing pattern of females of the deceived species (Lloyd 1965) and snakes that lure lizards by simulating movements resembling those of their own prey, such as insects (Hagman et al 2008;Reiserer & Schuett 2008, X.J. Nelson unpublished data) are other examples of aggressive mimics eliciting overt responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggressive use of Batesian mimicry by an ant-like jumping spider

Nelson

Jackson

2009

Biol. Lett.

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Batesian and aggressive mimicry are united by deceit: Batesian mimics deceive predators and aggressive mimics deceive prey. This distinction is blurred by Myrmarachne melanotarsa , an ant-like jumping spider (Salticidae). Besides often preying on salticids, ants are well defended against most salticids that might target them as potential prey. Earlier studies have shown that salticids identify ants by their distinctive appearance and avoid them. They also avoid ant-like salticids from the genus Myrmarachne. Myrmarachne melanotarsa is an unusual species from this genus because it typically preys on the eggs and juveniles of ant-averse salticid species. The hypothesis considered here is that, for M. melanotarsa , the distinction between Batesian and aggressive mimicry is blurred. We tested this by placing female Menemerus sp. and their associated hatchling within visual range of M. melanotarsa , its model, and various non-ant-like arthropods. Menemerus is an ant-averse salticid species. When seeing ants or ant mimics, Menemerus females abandoned their broods more frequently than when seeing non-ant-like arthropods or in control tests (no arthropods visible), as predicted by our hypothesis that resembling ants functions as a predatory ploy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggressive use of Batesian mimicry by an ant-like jumping spider

Nelson

Jackson

2009

Biol. Lett.

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“…Female Photuris, appropriately called firefly ''femmes fatales,'' lure male Photinus by masquerading as females of the latter (10,11). In firefly courtship, males fly about at night, flashing their light organs in a characteristic, species-specific pattern.…”

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confidence: 99%

Firefly “femmes fatales” acquire defensive steroids (lucibufagins) from their firefly prey

Eisner

Goetz

Hill

et al. 1997

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

142

116

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Female fireflies of the genus Photuris, the so-called firefly ''femmes fatales,'' prey on male fireflies of the genus Photinus. The females are able to entrap the males by faking the flash signal characteristics of the Photinus female. We found that by feeding on Photinus males, Photuris females gain more than nutrients. They also acquire defensive steroidal pyrones called lucibufagins, which are contained in Photinus but which Photuris fireflies are unable to produce on their own. Photuris females that eat Photinus males or lucibufagin are rejected by Phidippus jumping spiders. Lucibufagin itself proved to be a deterrent to such spiders. Field-collected Photuris females contain lucibufagin in varying amounts. The more lucibufagin they contain the more unacceptable they are to Phidippus.

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“…Mimicry is commonly discussed in the context of defense, but another active form of mimicry, called aggressive mimicry, allows predators to escape visual detection by their prey, thereby increasing their foraging success (Brower et al, 1960;Oxford and Gillespie, 1998). For example, it is known that the female firefly Photuris attracts and devours Photinus males by mimicking the flash-responses of Photinus females (Lloyd, 1965). The Antennarius anglerfish utilizes a lure that mimics a small fish for attracting the potential prey (Pietsch and Grobecker, 1978).…”

Section: Does the Orb-weaving Spider 'Aggressively Mimic' A Flower?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualization of the spatial and spectral signals of orb-weaving spiders, Nephila pilipes, through the eyes of a honeybee

Chiao

Wen

Chen

et al. 2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYIt is well known that the honeybee has good color vision. However, the spectral range in which the bee can see is different from that of the human eye. To study how bees view their world of colors, one has to see through the eyes of the bee, not the eyes of a human. A conventional way to examine the color signals that animals can detect is to measure the surface reflectance spectra and compute the quantum catches of each photoreceptor type based on its known spectral sensitivity. Color signal and color contrast are then determined from the loci of these quantum catches in the color space. While the point-by-point measurements of the reflectance spectra using a standard spectrometer have yielded a significant amount of data for analyzing color signals, the lack of spatial information and low sampling efficiency constrain their applications. Using a special filter coating technique, a set of filters with transmission spectra that were closely matched to the bee's sensitivity spectra of three photoreceptor types (UV, blue, and green) was custom made. By placing these filters in front of a UV/VIS-sensitive CCD camera and acquiring images sequentially, we could collect images of a bee's receptor with only three shots. This allowed a direct visualization of how bees view their world in a pseudo-color RGB display. With this imaging system, spatial and spectral signals of the orb-weaving spider, Nephila pilipes, were recorded, and color contrast images corresponding to the bee's spatial resolution were constructed and analyzed. The result not only confirmed that the color markings of N. pilipes are of high chromatic contrast to the eyes of a bee, but it also indicated that the spatial arrangement of these markings resemble flower patterns which may attract bees to visit them. Thus, it is likely that the orb-weaving spider (N. pilipes) deploys a similar strategy to that of the Australian crab spider (Thomisus spectabilis) to exploit the bee's pre-existing preference for flowers with color patterning. Supplementary material available online at

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Aggressive Mimicry in Photuris : Firefly Femmes Fatales

Abstract: Firefly females of the genus Photuris, long known to be carnivorous, attract and devour males of the genus Photinus by mimicking the flash-responses of Photinus females. Although suspected, this behavior had not been observed previously.

Cited by 202 publications

References 1 publication

Aggressive use of Batesian mimicry by an ant-like jumping spider

Aggressive use of Batesian mimicry by an ant-like jumping spider

Firefly “femmes fatales” acquire defensive steroids (lucibufagins) from their firefly prey

Visualization of the spatial and spectral signals of orb-weaving spiders, Nephila pilipes, through the eyes of a honeybee

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