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Behavioral responses of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans adults to conspecifics

Francisco del Pino^I; Richard Dui-dil^I; Julia Alfaro^I; Julia Bustos^I; Omar Gallegos^I; Edith Herrera^I; Jenny Retamal^I; José Soto^I; Raúl Godoy-Herrera^II

^IDepartamento de Agroindustrias y Ciencias del Ambiente, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad del Bio-Bio, Campus Chillán, Chillán, Chile
^IIDepartamento de Biologia Celular y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 70061 Santiago 7, Chile. Send correspondence to R.G-H.

ABSTRACT

Adults of Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans transmit and receive signals at some distance from their conspecifics. The behavioral responses differ according to species, sex and physiological state of the flies. Non-virgin D. melanogaster females increase their locomotor activity when male and female signals are received, without discriminating between the sexes. Non-virgin males of D. melanogaster do not increase dispersal in response to signals emitted by conspecifics, but they may avoid non-virgin females. Virgin and non-virgin flies of D. melanogaster move towards conspecifics when they detected flies of the sibling species D. simulans. However, virgin and non-virgin males and females of D. simulans are unable to discriminate the presence of physically distant conspecifics. It is argued that the substances referred to as sex pheromones may also serve to recognize physically distant conspecifics of Drosophila.

Keywords: Behavioral; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila simulans.

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