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Drosophilid Flies (drosophilid + fly)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Host range of Asobara japonica (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a larval parasitoid of drosophilid flies

ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008
Shinsuke IDEO
Abstract We studied the host range of Asobara japonica, a larval-pupal parasitoid of drosophilid flies. Habitat selection was found to be an important determinant of host range in this parasitoid; it attacked drosophilid larvae breeding on banana and mushrooms, but seldom attacked those breeding on decayed leaves. This parasitoid was able to use diverse drosophilid taxa as hosts. Attack by A. japonica sometimes killed hosts at the larval stage, and therefore parasitoid larvae also died. Drosophila elegans and D. busckii suffered particularly high larval mortality due to the attack by A. japonica (in the latter species only when young larvae were attacked). Many individuals of D. subpulchrella also died at the pupal stage without producing parasitoids when they were parasitized at the late larval stage. In contrast, D. bipectinata, D. ficusphila, D. immigrans, D. formosana and D. albomicans were resistant to attack: large proportions of the larvae of these drosophilid species grew to adulthood, even in the presence of parasitoids. On the basis of phylogenetic information, we concluded that phylogenetic position has only limited importance as a factor determining whether a species is suitable as a host for A. japonica, at least within the genus Drosophila. [source]

Diversity of drosophilid flies on Kume-jima, a subtropical island: comparison with diversity on Iriomote-jima

ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008
Masanori KONDO
Abstract The drosophilid fauna was studied on Kume-jima, a subtropical island located in the central part of the Ryukyu archipelago, and compared with the fauna of Iriomote-jima located near the south-western end of the archipelago. The number of species collected from Kume-jima was 37, much fewer than that recorded from Iriomote-jima (95 species). The number of subtropical species was particularly reduced on Kume-jima, possibly owing either to this island being more distantly located from the sources of subtropical species (e.g. Taiwan) than Iriomote-jima and/or to winter temperature on Kume-jima being a little lower (by approximately 1.5°C). The number of fungus-feeders was also much reduced on Kume-jima, but the number of fruit-feeders was only slightly reduced. On Kume-jima, fungi seem to be less abundant because forests are smaller, resulting in a smaller number of fungus-feeders. Habitat selection and seasonality were analyzed for species collected using "retainer" type traps baited with banana. For species occurring on both islands, habitat selection differed little between the two islands, whereas the seasonality of some species differed markedly between the two islands. [source]

Comparison of oxygen consumption in drosophilid flies from different climates

ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2006
Ayako OIKAWA
Abstract Oxygen consumption at rest was studied in drosophilid species from cool-temperate, warm-temperate and subtropical regions to assess whether adaptations to different climates are associated with changes in metabolic rates. In experiments at 23°C using 8-day-old males of 28 species, body mass was revealed to be a significant predictor of oxygen consumption. No significant relation was detected between mass-adjusted oxygen consumption and latitudinal distribution or thermal tolerance by either conventional regression analysis or a phylogenetically based method. The effect of temperature on oxygen consumption was studied with experiments at 15, 18, 23 and 28°C using 8- and 24-day-old males of four species of each of the montium species subgroup and the subgenus Drosophila. In these experiments, it was confirmed that temperature was a significant predictor of mass-adjusted oxygen consumption. In both lineages, mass-adjusted oxygen consumption was not higher in cool-temperate species than in subtropical species. Thus, adaptations to colder climates are not associated with elevation of metabolic rates in these drosophilid species. The results of the present study also indicate that oxygen consumption is not related to the capacity to walk quickly. [source]

Evolutionary genetics of genital size and lateral asymmetry in the earwig Euborellia plebeja (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae)

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010
YOSHITAKA KAMIMURA
Male genitalia show several evolutionary characteristics, including rapid morphological divergence between closely related species and low within-species phenotypic variability. In addition, genital asymmetry is widespread despite the essentially bilaterally symmetric external morphology of insects. Several hypotheses, such as sexual selection and lock-and-key hypotheses, have been proposed to explain these characteristics of genital evolution. Although these hypotheses provide different predictions about the genetic basis of variation in genitalia, detailed quantitative genetic studies have been conducted in only three insect taxa: heteropterans, dung beetles (Scarabaeidae), and drosophilid flies. For an anisolabidid earwig, Euborellia plebeja, characterized by paired elongated intromittent organs, we estimated the heritabilities and genetic correlations of genital laterality, size of genitalia, and body size. No statistically significant additive genetic, dominance, maternal, or common environmental effects were detected for genital laterality (readiness to use either the left or the right intromittent organ). This result lends further support to the general rule that the direction of antisymmetric variations is randomly determined by non-genetic factors. Irrespective of the restricted phenotypic variation in genitalia compared with body size (allometric slope < 1), as observed in previous studies for other insects, these two traits showed a similar level of genetic variation, measured as the narrow sense heritability (h2) and the coefficient of additive genetic variation (CVA). Comparison suggests the causes of interspecific differences in genetic variability/correlation structures were developmental processes (holo- or hemimetabolous) and/or mode of sexual selection. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101, 103,112. [source]