Fruit Fly Courtship

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Duration

00:00:55

Description

This video shows real footage of courtship behavior of fruit flies with wing spots.

The males of some species of fruit flies have wing spots. The spots are part of the courtship displays that males present to females. This video shows two examples of courtship displays in Drosophila fruit fly species. The first species shown is D. biarmipes, which has spots on its wings due to a “paintbrush” gene involved in pigmentation. The second species shown is D. tristis, which evolved wing spots independently.

This clip is from a 2005 Holiday Lecture Series, Evolution: Constant Change and Common Threads.

Key Terms

convergent evolution, insect, mating, melanin, paintbrush gene, pigmentation, sexual selection, wing pattern

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Version History

Date Published 02.06.05

Educator Tips

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1-Minute Tips

Fruit Fly Courtship

Cindy Gay presents BioInteractive's short video clip demonstrating the fruit fly courtship dance and its role in selection. She describes how she uses the clip in her AP® Biology curriculum, and how it connects to topics ranging from animal behavior to sympatric speciation.