Hijack Fireflies Spiders to create bright sournoid death traps

Lucioles shine to attract friends. As shown by new research, however, a certain species of spider has learned to take advantage of this luminous natural phenomenon.

In a Journal Journal of Animal Ecology published on August 27, environmentalists report that the spider sheet (Psekrus key) seems to exploit the light of fire to attract more prey. Observation analysis and laboratory experiences revealed that using fire light as bait, night predators have improved their hunting success. This is the second time that researchers have observed such behavior in spiders, although the new article describes a completely different kind of spider.

“This study puts new light on the way in which Sit and Wait night predators can take up the challenges of the attraction of prey and offer a unique perspective on the complexity of predatory-primary interactions,” said I-Min TSO, principal study of the study and ecologist at the University of Tunghai in Taiwan, in a press release.

A penchant for the sparkled food

What alerted researchers to this strange behavior is the trend of spiders to immediately consume most larvae – like butterflies – granted in their paintings, but not to fireflies. When the brilliant creatures stolen in the canvas of the seated predator and Wait, the spider simply left them suspended for about an hour, even by occasionally crawling to see if the fireflies were alive and brilliant.

It seemed strange to researchers; They knew that it was not because the spiders were not in the fireflies – quite the opposite. Obviously, researchers could not ask the spiders if they simply appreciated the pretty fireflies. Instead, they organized an experience to test whether the behavior of spiders could be linked to an evolutionary advantage.

For the experience, the team prepared LED lights that looked closely at the light of fireflies, plunging them on the sheets of spiders in leaf. The canvases adorned with these LED lights have attracted the amount of prey three times compared to the commands without lights.

Even more surprising, when the researchers limited the prey to real fireflies, the canvases equipped with LED lights attracted ten times more, mainly men. This suggests that fireflies combined artificial glow with potential partners.

“Management of prey in different ways suggests that the spider can use a kind of signal to distinguish the species of prey they capture and determine an appropriate response,” said TSO. “We assume that it is probably the bioluminescent signals of fireflies that are used to identify the fireflies, allowing spiders to adjust their behavior of manipulation of prey accordingly.”

However, the researchers admitted that their experience used an artificial replication of the fire of fire. Ideally, an experience in the field would use real fireflies, although it is “extremely difficult in practice”, they noted.

Not to mention ethics; Many firefighters are listed as threatened.

It is tempting to believe that spiders simply appreciate the sweet glow that is added to their paintings. But as evolutionary behavior tends to go, the hypothesis of researchers seems valid. So, until we can understand Spider communication, we will simply have to assume the latter.