Dazzled by shine: gloss as an antipredator strategy in fast moving prey

Abstract

Previous studies on stationary prey have found mixed results for the role of a glossy appearance in predator avoidance—some have found that glossiness can act as warning coloration or improve camouflage, whereas others detected no survival benefit. An alternative untested hypothesis is that glossiness could provide protection in the form of dynamic dazzle. Fast moving animals that are glossy produce flashes of light that increase in frequency at higher speeds, which could make it harder for predators to track and accurately locate prey. We tested this hypothesis by presenting praying mantids with glossy or matte targets moving at slow and fast speed. Mantids were less likely to strike glossy targets, independently of speed. Additionally, mantids were less likely to track glossy targets and more likely to hit the target with one out of the two legs that struck rather than both raptorial legs, but only when targets were moving fast. These results support the hypothesis that a glossy appearance may have a function as an antipredator strategy by reducing the ability of predators to track and accurately target fast moving prey.

The flashy escape: support for dynamic flash coloration as anti-predator defence

“…The defensive potential of dynamic flash coloration has been tested only infrequently [10,11,17,[19][20][21][22]. Murali et al's [10,17,19] efforts are the most extensive to date and have used humans 'preying upon' stimuli on touchscreens to identify several parameters that contribute to the effectiveness of defensive flash colours.…”

“…He found that, when compared with non-flashing stimuli, flashing induced greater targeting error and increased the number of attempts required to successfully peck the stimulus. Recently, Rao et al [20] showed that interference coloration flashing in the wings of tephritid flies interrupts the visual tracking ability of predatory jumping spiders [20], and Henríquez-Piskulich et al [22] showed that glossiness in a moving prey item can negatively affect the ability of praying mantids to track and accurately attack artificial prey [22].…”

“…[ 20 ] showed that interference coloration flashing in the wings of tephritid flies interrupts the visual tracking ability of predatory jumping spiders [ 20 ], and Henríquez-Piskulich et al . [ 22 ] showed that glossiness in a moving prey item can negatively affect the ability of praying mantids to track and accurately attack artificial prey [ 22 ].…”