Treachery in the Wild

My wife was on maternity leave with our first-born, and I was hired to help fill the void of her absence at the nature center in central Illinois. It was high summer, very hot and humid. So I wanted to stay inside making pen and ink drawings for brochures, figuring out an artsy way to render the calendar of public events, and illustrating labels for jars of locally gathered honey to be sold in the gift store. But I knew enough about nature to lead public hikes on the preserve’s upland oak/hickory woodland acres. That’s when I ran into mimicry and murder during the annual courtship amongst fireflies.

Crystal structure of the bioluminescing enzyme lucerferase

Firefly displays intrigue anyone who has ever witnessed them on hot, humid nights in the eastern seaboard and also here in the Midwest. The mesmerizing blinking is due to cool temperature chemistry called bioluminescence, and is used to attract mates in the sex-crazed high summer nights of July and August. Roaming males of the genus Photinus use one pattern of flashing, recognized only by females of its species, and those of the genus Photuris use another. The male recognizes the correct duration of the interval between his flashing and the female’s single blink response, and zeros in on her where she hides with her expensive cache of eggs.

Unfortunately, Photinus males often zero in on the consummate femme fatale. The carnivorous Photuris females have evolved to use the same duration pattern. When crooning Photinus males reach these females, they’re lunch. That’s because Photuris females can use a defense chemical that male Photuris fireflies make. This molecule, lucibufagin, proves an effective chemical defensive against certain spiders and other enemies.

Such trickery, committed during a perfectly innocent attempt at a romp in the grass, is common in the insect world. Still sounds like a solid basis upon which to make a complaint. “But officer, my alleged date ate me when I went to pick her up!” After I told this tale of woe to one group of fascinated folks on an evening’s stroll, they stood in stunned silence before finally offering hesitant applause.

Lest it appears that the natural world is the only culprit concerning conspired means to lunch on unsuspecting others, I list below a running tally of terms I’ve compiled for similar occurrences in our world.

Billed, infected, charged, arrested, fined, tricked, stalked, interrogated, ambushed, investigated, ripped off, targeted, sued, assaulted, held liable, put under surveillance, burgled, suspected, wire-tapped, gypped, broken into, penalized, foreclosed, stung, fired, sneak-attacked, drag-netted, dismissed. The list can be extended.

We all have our stories. Administrators do things that impinge on others. Lovers do it. Politicians do it. Revenuers do it. Even children in their sandboxes do it. Interactions between living entities in any world are often just plain hostile.

For instance, I pay a hefty annual “wheel tax” to the city in order to park on the street in front of my own residence. But I better not forget to go out to the curb to move my car. Street sweeping occurs on the south side of the street on Tuesday, and the north side on Wednesday. The parking Gestapo likes to cruise immediately after 9 AM for easy pickings. It’s the city’s Department of Revenue to whom the parking police answer. The street sweepers often don't even show up. I’m sure that the steady rate of income from parkers who just can’t always remember where they left their car is built into their budget. I’d swore that this summer I wouldn’t get hit. But I did, once. Happens to the best of us. So add ticketed to the list above. I wouldn’t put it past the city to deliberately hire administrators with a background in Biology.