The effect of the homoeotic mutation, Spineless-aristapedia, on female receptivity to male courtship in Drosophila melanogaster.
Drosophila melanogaster females expressing the homoeotic mutation, spineless-aristapedia (SSa), were tested for their ability to hear the song of courting males. Since courtship song increases a females' receptivity to copulation, the frequency of mating within a short observation period was used as a measure of the ability of mutant females to distinguish between singing males and males that were unable to sing. These results show that SSa females, although lacking aristae, could distinguish between the two types of males in that they mated more readily with males that sang. Furthermore, the homoeotic legs of SSa females are not required to be present for the detection of courtship song, since females whose homoeotic legs were removed could still distinguish between singing and non-singing males.
Department of Biology, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA 19131.
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McRobert
D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal