This photo has since been competition, run by the Natural History Museum in London, UK, on the grounds that it features a stuffed anteater 鈥� though Marcio Cabral denies this.
BENEATH this starry sky is a spectacular work of nature with a sinister twist.
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The glittery rock is an abandoned termite mound taken over by firefly larvae. They dig tiny U-shaped burrows in the mound鈥檚 surface, from where they glow bright green at night using bioluminescent chemicals in their heads. By wiggling this light around, the larvae lure flying prey such as butterflies, winged termites and ants to their deaths. In the foreground, a curious anteater sniffs around for prey of its own.
The image, shot in the Emas National Park in Brazil, earned Brazilian nature photographer Marcio Cabral a prize in the annual BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition. Cabral鈥檚 photo can be viewed alongside 47 other prizewinning images at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco from 28 July. A selection of these shots is also online at .
The sight of entire fields of glowing termite mounds has astonished witnesses. One likened the scene to 鈥渕iniature cities or countless illuminated Christmas trees鈥�.
This firefly鈥檚 species name, Pyrearinus termitilluminans, means 鈥済reen fire that illuminates the termite nest鈥�. Adult females lay eggs at the base of an abandoned mound, and the hatched larvae climb up to burrow into it. Eventually, the larvae seal the burrows to pupate, finally emerging as adults.
Photographer
Marcio Cabral
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭he trap that glows鈥�
