Working near paddy fields and ponds, the researchers observed the flashing of trapped male fireflies and saw that it more closely resembled that of females than of free-flying males. Trapped males flashed using only one of their two bioluminescent lantern organs, and they made one flash at a time rather than multiple flashes in quick succession, the same lighting signals females send when trying to attract males.

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The flashing of trapped males mimicked that of females only when a spider was present in the web; males in a web alone still flashed differently than free-flying males, but not in a way that resembled females as much as when a spider was there. Female-like flashing seemed to act as a siren song for other male fireflies, with those webs catching an average of 1.6 more males, compared with just 0.2 more males for webs without female-like flickering

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