Study
Aggressive mimicry in Photuris: firefly femmes fatales
Lloyd, James E.
Science, 1965
Observed Photuris females responding to the flashes of males of other firefly genera, and used a penlight to reproduce species-specific flash patterns in the field, recording which flashes drew responses and what followed.
- Studied in
- Photuris, Photinus
- Sample size
- field observations with experimental flash playback
Photuris females answered the flash codes of Photinus males with the response pattern of a Photinus female, drawing the males close, and then captured and ate them. The females adjusted their answering pattern to the species of the signalling male.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
These females use aggressive mimicry — reproducing another species’ mating signal to attract prey.
How NatureHQ reads it
One of the cleanest cases of aggressive mimicry known, and one where the signal is a code rather than an appearance. The penlight is what makes it experimental: the observer can produce a species’ flash pattern on demand and see which females answer.
- Field observation at night, where identifying which individual did what is difficult.
- Genus Photuris contains many species and their behaviour varies; this is not uniform across the group.
Answering a firefly with a penlight
Female Photuris fireflies are seen eating males of other species. Are they attracting them by reproducing their mating signals?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublished in Science or Science Advances (AAAS).
doi.org/10.1126/science.149.3684.653
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.