Contact: Kim Thurler
kim.thurler@tufts.edu
617-627-3175
Tufts University

Flightless Firefly

Caption: Research by Tufts biologists shows that wingless "stay-at-home" female fireflies like that above get less support from their mates than females able to fly. Some species of male fireflies donate a "nuptial gift" to mates -- sperm wrapped in a nutritious high-protein package. But When a firefly species' females lose the ability to fly, the males often evolve to transfer only sperm, with no gift of food.

Credit: T. Chen

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Related news release: In fireflies, flightless females lose out on gifts from males