UNISEX FLASH CONTROLS IN DIALOG FIREFLIES

During courtship in many dialog fireflies, the female flashes at a fixed interval after each rhythmic display signal of the male. The male then orients toward her flash, but does not flash in response. In 3 species, males also may decoy other males by answering them after an interval equal to the female's characteristic flash delay. In 2 other species, individuals have been induced to respond to, or to duplicate, interflash intervals characteristic of the opposite sex. Both male and female thus harbor overt or latent homologs of some of the other's flash-timing circuits. -Author