Fruit flies can learn to associate an odor with an aversive stimulus, such as a shock. New findings indicate that disrupting the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in flies impairs olfactory conditioning. The findings provide support for a critical role for NMDA receptors in associative learning.

A flight mill system was constructed in 1969 at the Hawaiian Fruit Flies Investigations Laboratory, Honolulu, to study the flight perform ance of 3 Hawaiian tephritids, Dacus cucurbitae Coquillett, D. dorsalis Hendel, and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) . The unique system allowed simultaneous measurements of 18 individual flies, and data were auto matically recorded on magnetic tape and compute...

Chemical insecticides have hazardous effects on human health and the ecosystem hence there is a dire need of hour to use nonchemical eco-friendly tactics for management major insect pests. While traps other attract-and-kill devices in pest strategies reduce fruit fly (Tephritidae) populations has proved be efficient, therefore current study was designed evaluate different lure combinations moni...

Well-known epigenetic DNA modifications in mammals include the addition of a methyl group and a hydroxyl group to cytosine, resulting in 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) respectively. In contrast, the abundance and the functional implications of these modifications in invertebrate model organisms such as the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the fruit fly (Drosophila melan...

The major architectural differences between most Arthropod classes and orders involve variations in the number, type and pattern of body appendages. We have utilized the emerging knowledge of appendage formation in fruit flies to begin to address the developmental and genetic basis of morphological diversity among insects. Butterflies, for example, differ from fruit flies in possessing larval a...

By simultaneously measuring carbon dioxide release, water loss and flight force in several species of fruit flies in the genus Drosophila, we have investigated respiration and respiratory transpiration during elevated locomotor activity. We presented tethered flying flies with moving visual stimuli in a virtual flight arena, which induced them to vary both flight force and energetic output. In ...

The larvae of fruit flies produce pheromones to control whether they are attracted to others of the same species or whether they avoid members of a different species.

Keywords: courtship Drosophila melanogaster forced copulation fruit fly sexual behaviour sexual conflict Male fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) force-copulate with females during the females' short vulnerable period following eclosion. Although sexually immature at that time, the females produce viable progeny from forced copulations. While the females could gain fitness from remating with ...

Animals that have a long pre-reproductive adult stage often employ mechanisms that minimize aging over this period in order to preserve reproductive lifespan. In a remarkable exception, one tephritid fruit fly exhibits substantial pre-reproductive aging but then mitigates this aging during a diet-dependent transition to the reproductive stage, after which life expectancy matches that of newly e...

BACKGROUND For a fruit fly, locating fermenting fruit where it can feed, find mates, and lay eggs is an essential and difficult task requiring the integration of olfactory and visual cues. Here, we develop an approach to correlate flies' free-flight behavior with their olfactory experience under different wind and visual conditions, yielding new insight into plume tracking based on over 70 hr o...