US EditionSpider uses trapped fireflies as glowing bait to attract prey
Captured fireflies emit bioluminescent light for up to an hour, tripling prey attraction and boosting hunting success of sheet web spiders, researchers reported.
- Researchers at Tunghai University observed the sheet web spider Psechrus clavis capture fireflies and leave them glowing for up to an hour to lure additional prey.
- Psechrus clavis is a nocturnal sit-and-wait predator in subtropical forests of East Asia; researchers observed most captured fireflies were male and likely mistook the glow for mates, while the winter firefly Diaphanes lampyroides uses continuous bioluminescence to attract mates.
- In a field experiment at National Taiwan University's Xitou Nature Educational Area, researchers used LEDs mimicking firefly light and found three times more prey attracted to these webs than controls.
- The findings show that captured fireflies used as bait increase spiders' hunting success rate, a rare example documented in the Journal of Animal Ecology .
- The lead author, Dr. I-Min Tso, said the findings `shed new light on the ways that nocturnal sit-and-wait predators can rise to the challenges of attracting prey` and offer a unique perspective on predator-prey complexity.
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13 Articles
Spiders turn fireflies into glowing traps
In Taiwan’s forests, researchers discovered a clever hunting trick by the sheet web spider Psechrus clavis. Instead of immediately devouring captured fireflies, the spiders allow them to glow in the web, luring other insects, sometimes even more fireflies, into the trap. Experiments with LED lights confirmed this eerie strategy: webs lit with firefly-like signals attracted up to ten times more prey.
·United States
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