Musical camouflage for fireflies. Free Technical Library News

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Musical camouflage for fireflies

07.04.2021

Leopard spots, zebra stripes, chameleon colors are typical examples of "visual" camouflage. But how to hide from a predator that seeks and overtakes prey, focusing on sound, and not on sight?

Fireflies (Lampyridae) are known to everyone due to their glow, which is a calling signal for mating. It is logical to assume that the radiance in the dark will be a bait for everyone who is not averse to feasting on insects. However, fireflies are poisonous (or at least rather unpleasant in taste) to most predators, and the glow can eloquently warn them of this.

However, in the case of blind-sighted bats, this signal light is unlikely to work. In a new study, scientists from Tel Aviv University and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) have found that fireflies have developed smart sonic armor to escape bats. And this discovery was made by accident.

Insects make noise by moving their wings, and subsequent lab tests have found this behavior in at least four different species of fireflies. The noise is reproduced at ultrasonic frequencies, which means that the fireflies do not even hear it themselves, and therefore do not use it to communicate with each other.

Bats, however, can hear fireflies very well. So scientists came up with a working hypothesis that ultrasound is a kind of musical armor that protects insects from a predator. The use of warning signals, which the sender himself cannot detect, has been found in the plant world, but is quite rare among animals.

The discovery of a musical battle between fireflies and bats could pave the way for further research and possibly describe a new defense mechanism developed by animals against potential predators.

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