Question on fireflies?

Question

What organisms do fireflies compete with?
Do fireflies enter any symbiotic relationships with other organisms, including mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism?
What biotic and abiotic factors affect fireflies?

gardengallivant · Accepted Answer

There is more than one genus of firefly and they compete with each other. The Photuris genus has many species that preys on firefly species in another genus.
A female Photuris can mimic the blinking glow pattern of the Photinus fireflies. She can lure in a male Photinus and eat him. This is a type of aggressive mimicry where the predator mimics signals from the prey to allow the predator to approach the prey without being correctly identified. The Photuris gets a meal and the defensive chemical the Photinus manufactures. This chemical makes the firefly taste bad to predators.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Your_Branch_or_Mine.html
http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/97/9.4.97/firefly.html
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology/courses/en507/papers_1997/stous.html
Fireflies need a moist environment to survive so are found in forests or fields near water courses or ponds.
http://www.firefly.org/facts-about-fireflies.html

? · Answer

That's a good observation

Question on fireflies?

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