Proc. R. Soc. B doi:10.1098/rspb.208.0742 (2008)

Credit: S. TAKACS

The affinity of insects for bright lights is well known, but at least one species seems to 'see' the heat of seed cones (pictured, right image taken with infra-red camera) from afar.

Gerhard Gries of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, and his colleagues have identified infra-red (IR) receptors on conifer seed bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis), and shown with the aid of IR sources in the lab and the field that these creatures prefer hot things. The insects displayed a preference for traps that emitted strong rather than weak IR — unless their IR receptors were covered with silica paint.