Keywords: courtship Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly homosexual behaviour learning The mechanisms maintaining homosexual behaviour in animals are not well understood. In fruit flies, where maleemale courtship is prevalent, it has been suggested that young males gain from being courted by mature males, perhaps through learning. I conducted two series of experiments to critically examine why mat...

BackgroundCopper (Cu) and iron (Fe) are essential trace elements that when in excess capable of causing cytotoxic effects leading to lipid peroxidation promoting oxidative stress. Resveratrol (RES) is a natural polyphenol with antioxidant anti-inflammatory properties. This study was carried out evaluate the protective role RES Fe Cu sulphate-induced stress Drosophila melanogaster. MethodsAdult ...

Two groups of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) were maintained on different diets. Mitochondria were isolated, proton leak was measured and phospholipid fatty acid composition determined. Mitochondria from flies fed on corn-base meal (containing high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, 18:2(n-6) and 18:3(n-3) and low amounts of monounsaturated fatty acid, 18:1(n-9)) contained more poly...

Flying insects perform aerial maneuvers through slight manipulations of their wing motions. Because such manipulations in wing kinematics are subtle, a reliable method is needed to properly discern consistent kinematic strategies used by the insect from inconsistent variations and measurement error. Here, we introduce a novel automated method that accurately extracts full, 3D body and wing kine...

This study was carried out in the Counties of Montenegro and Pareci Novo located in the region of the Vale do Rio Cai, Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, aiming to determine the fruit fly species of Tephritidae and Lonchaeidae that occur in organic orchards of sweet orange [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb.] cultivar Céu, and Murcott tangor (Citrus reticulata Blanco x C. sinensis), during the fruit ri...

Many animals copy the choices of others but the functional and mechanistic explanations for copying are still not fully resolved. We relied on novel behavioral protocols to quantify the value of patch-choice copying in fruit flies. In a titration experiment, we quantified how much nutritional value females were willing to trade for laying eggs on patches already occupied by larvae (social patch...

Evolutionary innovation can allow a species access to a new ecological niche, potentially reducing competition with closely related species. While the vast majority of Drosophila flies feed on rotting fruit and other decaying matter, and are harmless to human activity, Drosophila suzukii, which has a morphologically modified ovipositor, is capable of colonizing live fruit that is still in the p...

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is a serious pest of fruits and vegetables. Methyl eugenol (ME), a male attractant, is used to against this fly by mass trapping. Control effect may be influenced by learning, which could modify the olfactory response of the fly to this attractant. To collect the behavioral evidence, studies on the capability of this fly for olfactory learning are ne...

Reynolds number and thus body size may potentially limit aerodynamic force production in flying insects due to relative changes of viscous forces on the beating wings. By comparing four different species of fruit flies similar in shape but with different body mass, we have investigated how small insects cope with changes in fluid mechanical constraints on power requirements for flight and the e...

The major spiroacetal ((E,E)-1) of the pestiferous fruit flies, Bactrocera tryoni and Bactrocera cucumis, is biosynthesised from fatty acids by distinguishable pathways which utilise modified beta-oxidation and C-H hydroxylation, generating a putative ketodiol which cyclises.