For the most part, these adult fireflies don't get eaten because like their juveniles they can manufacture toxins that are repellent to birds and other insectivores, but somewhere along the line, one particular group of fireflies somehow lost the metabolic machinery needed to make their own protective toxins.
Najvećim dijelom, ove odrasle krijesnice ne budu pojedene jer, kao njihova mladunčad, mogu proizvesti toksine koji su odbojni pticama i ostalim insektivorima, ali negdje na tom putu, jedna posebna grupa krijesnica je nekako izgubila metabolički stroj potreban za proizvodnju  toksina kojima bi se obranila.