Chemical egg defense in Photuris firefly "femmes fatales"

Maternal provisioning of sequestered defensive steroids by the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus

“…Toxic eggs are known from toads (Licht 1968) and moths in the genus Utethesia (Eisner and Meinwald 1995;Eisner et al 2000). Eggs of fireflies (Photuris) are endowed with betaine synthesized by the female, and also with sequestered lucibufagins when available (Gonzµlez et al 1999a).…”

The evolutionary process of bioluminescence and aposematism in cantharoid beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea) inferred by the analysis of 18S ribosomal DNA

“…The viscid blood has a very bitter taste and characteristically very pungent (Ohba and Hidaka, 2002, and references therein). The eggs and larvae of lampyrids also produce light as an aposematic display to convey to predators that they are chemically defended (Underwood et al, 1997;González et al, 1999a). Thus, it seems that bioluminescence in Lampyridae had primarily evolved through a function of aposematism and was subsequently applied to courtship behavior (De Cock and Matthysen, 1999).…”

Identification and characterization of the Luc2‐type luciferase in the Japanese firefly, Luciola parvula, involved in a dim luminescence in immobile stages

“…In this context, the luminescence spectrum of LpLuc2 (λ max = 538 nm) is quite different from that of LpLuc1, thus the light due to Luc2 must be less bright to their own eyes and the role of Luc2 luminescence may not be in intraspecific communication. It is known that fireflies generally possess toxins and repellents such as lucibufagin and betaine to warn potential predators. Therefore, we think that the green bioluminescence generated by Luc2 during the immobile stages might have a role as an aposematism to warn off predators.…”