DOI: 10.5061/dryad.12jm63z5w
title: Data from: Spiders manipulate and exploit bioluminescent signals of fireflies

description: Predators often search for prey while moving through the environment, but
 there are important exceptions, including the way sedentary predators
 sometimes rely on signals for drawing prey to within striking distance.
 Some spiders, for instance, leave the remnants of previously-captured prey
 in their webs where they function as static lures that effectively attract
 a diverse array of additional prey [1,2,3,4]. Important questions remain
 concerning how specific targeted prey may be and to what extent the
 predator’s signals may be made dynamic instead of static. With these
 questions as our rationale, we initiated research in which the predator is
 Araneus ventricosus (L. Koch, 1878), an orb-weaving spider, and the prey
 are the males of a firefly species (Abscondita terminalis) (Figure 1A, B,
 C). Using two lanterns situated on their abdomen (Figure 1D, F), A.
 terminalis males make female-attracting multi-pulse flash trains (Figure
 1J), but sedentary females attract males by using a single lantern (Figure
 1E, G) to make single-pulse signals (Figure 1C, K). Drawing from extensive
 field observations, we propose that the spider practices deceptive
 interspecific communication by first ensnaring firefly males in its web
 and then predisposing entrapped male fireflies to produce bioluminescent
 signals that deviate from female-attracting signals typically made by
 males and instead mimic the male-attracting signals typically made by
 females. The outcome is that the broadcasted false signals attract more
 male fireflies into the web.
description: This README.md was generated on 2024-02-06 by Daiqin Li, Wei Zhou and Long
 Yu. \-----------------------------**General
 Information**---------------------------------- This is the dataset for
 Xinhua Xu, Long Yu, Wei Zhou, Chaoliang Lei, Robert R. Jackson, Matjaz
 Kuntner, Qiuying Huang, Shichang Zhang & Daiqin Li. 'Spiders
 manipulate and exploit bioluminescent signals of fireflies' Current
 Biology 34:R768-R769.
 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.011](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.011) **Authors for Correspondence** 1. Daiqin Li; e-mail: [dbslidq@nus.edu.sg](mailto:dbslidq@nus.edu.sg) 2. Shichang Zhang; email: [spider@hubu.edu.cn](mailto:spider@hubu.edu.cn) **Period of Data Collection** June 2010 to May 2021 **Location of Data Collection** Wuhan, Hubei Province, China **Description of Data Points** NA=unavailable record **Funding sources** This study was supported by the grants from China National Science Foundation (32270531 to DLi, 32370530 to SZhang, and 32070485 to XFu) and by a grant from Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF) to DLi (A-8001085-00-00). \----------------------**Overview for data_and_codes_Fu_et_al**-------------------------------- #### Folder List: Codes_Fu_et_al: This folder contains R codes (in software) for data analyses and figures. Data_Fu_et_al: This folder contains datasets (file type "csv") for the interactions between spiders and firefly. Firefly_PCA: This folder contains datasets (file type "csv") and R code (in software) for comparisons of bioluminescent signal patterns among female (female firefly), flying male (free flying firefly male), SFFmale (male on web with spider present) and FFOmale (male on web with spider absent). \---------------------------------**Methodological Information**-------------------------------- The data was collected following the protocol described in Fu et al. Spider manipulates and exploits fireflt's bioluminescent signals The data was analysed with R 4.2.0. \-----------------------------------**Specific Information**------------------------------------ More details for each folder can be found within the folders.