Vol. 49 No. 6, 2010

Greater Mating Success of Middle-Aged Females of Drosophila ananassae

Madegowda Prathibha and Mysore Siddaiah Krishna*

Drosophila Stock Center, Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore 570006, Karnataka State, India

Madegowda Prathibha and Mysore Siddaiah Krishna (2010) Out bred population of Drosophila ananassae established from progenies of 150 isofemale lines collected at Mysore, India was used to study how female age influences mating success, mating latency, courtship activities, copulation duration, fecundity, ovariole number and female wing length.  It was noted that middle-aged females had significantly greater mating success, and mated faster, and males showed significantly greater intensities of courtship activities, i.e. tapping, scissoring, vibrating, licking toward middle-aged females compared to younger and older females, and copulated longer than with younger and older females.  It was also noted that middle-aged females had significantly greater fecundity and ovariole numbers than younger and older females.  However, no significant variation in female wing length was found among females of different age classes.  Therefore, we hypothesized that in D. ananassae, middle aged females were more eager to mate than were younger or older females.  Thus, these studies on D. ananassae suggest that middle-age females had greater mating success and fitness than younger and older females.

Key words: Drosophila ananassae, Female age, Male mate preference, Ovariole number, Wing length.

*Correspondence: E-mail:drosokrish@gmail.com; prathibhajayaramu@gmail.com