Reptiles defense

Defensive Compounds. The developmental stages of fireflies are poisonous due to the presence of steroidal pyrones called lucibufagins. Recently it became evident that exotic reptiles and amphibians from habitats without the poisonous fireflies, e.g. the Australian lizard Pogona, are killed immediately if they ingest just one firefly. 

Many organisms rely on anti-predator defenses after contact with a predator (Brodie, Formanowicz Brodie, 1991). Because energetic costs and mortality risks are increased during contact, some species avoid these interactions whenever possible. A number of animals chemically detect and avoid predators, including invertebrates (Parker Shulman, 1986 Alexander Covich, 1991 Turner, 1996), fish (Keefe, 1992 Smith, 1992 Mathis Smith, 1993), reptiles (Thoen, Bauwens Verheyen, 1986 Dial, 1989 Cooper, 1990), and mammals (Weldon, 1990). In anuran amphibians, tadpoles commonly avoid the waterborne odors of predators (Petranka, Kats Sih, 1987 Flowers Graves, 1997 Kie-secker, Chi vers Blaustein, 1997), and among caudate amphibians, both larval and adult... 

Turning to the subject of many an adventure story, ichthyothereol is the active ingredient of a poisonous substance used in arrowheads by the Indians of the Lower Amazon River Basin. It causes convulsions in mammals. And histrionicotoxin is isolated from the skin of poison arrow frog, a highly colorful species of the genus Dendrobates. The frog secretes this compound and similar ones as defensive venoms and mucosal-tissue irritants against both mammals and reptiles. 

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