Sometimes fireflies shouldn’t follow the light.
A single flash from a female usually helps male Abscondita terminalis fireflies find her among tall grasses at dusk. Males are showier, giving off multiple light pulses to attract a mate. If ensnared in an orb weaver spider’s web, however, flashy males can become deadly decoys.
Orb weaver spiders seem to trick male fireflies into blinking in a pattern more like females, researchers report August 19 in Current Biology. The femalelike lights lure other males into the web, allowing the arachnids to stock up on food.