I am aware of the fact that certain species have evolved physical traits that would reduce the likelihood of them being eaten by predators. E.g. certain insects have evolved to mimic plants so that predators may mistake them as such. However, I have been wondering if any species have evolved a certain trait that makes them more attractive to prey, sort of like a luring system. I am mostly referring to species other than humans or anything biologically related to humans. Perhaps I already know a specific instance of this, but it just eludes me at the moment, so when someone mentions one it may just refresh my memory.

Yes. For an example, look up the anglerfish.

Anglerfish have lures on their heads, that they wiggle to draw in prey by mimicking the movements and light of their own. Alligator Snapping Turtles have worm-like lures on their tongues, the Margay Cat was just discovered to mimic the calls of a type of monkey to draw them in, and a species of firefly (really beetles), in which the female is flightless mimics the sexual signals of other firefly species to draw in males of the mimicked species in question, in order to eat them. Even some predatory plants lure prey with sweet nectar or rotten scents and the like.

 

Apologies... lost track of myself.

Edited August 18, 201015 yr by AzurePhoenix

While not a physically evolved lure, the araneophagic jumping spider Portia fimbriata will tap the edge of a web-spinning spider's web mimicking the vibrations a trapped insect would make. They will also mimic the vibrations that a male of the species it is hunting would make to signal a female that he wishes to mate.

 

 

 

 

 

Bolas Spiders are particularly spectacular in their luring/hunting methods.

I think that one of the best examples of that are related with carnivorous plants. They produce nectar which attracts small insects, but then the insects get caught by the plant and are digested by them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alligator snapping turtle, anglerfish there are many. There are some birds in the tropics that lure Bush-crickets (katydids to you americans) with song I believe.

Anglerfish have lures on their heads, that they wiggle to draw in prey by mimicking the movements and light of their own.

 

Yeah, true, but it's not just the Anglerfish that have bioluminescence to attract prey, have you seen all the other creatures of the deep? If not, watch this:

 

 

 

Indeed, I just chose the most widely recognizable representative example. Its a pretty obvious strategy to develop in the perpetual dark.