WASHINGTON - Some female fireflies lure males of another species with promises of sex but eat them instead to obtain a chemical which deters predators, a Cornell University study revealed yesterday.
The females of the species, Photuris versicolor, imitate the light signals with which females of the species, Photinus ignitus, respond to courtship by their own males. Some of the males, which contain chemicals known as lucibufagins, fall for it and end up dead. - (Reuter)
