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Drosophila Melanogaster Lifespan & Mating

The lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster is approximately 30 days at 29°C. Development time varies with temperature, taking 7 days at 28°C and 11 days at 30°C due to heat stress. Under ideal conditions of 25°C, development takes 8.5 days. Females lay about 400 eggs over several days into decaying fruit, where the larvae feed until pupating and emerging as adults after about 10 days total development time. Males court females through song and tapping, then copulate for 15-20 minutes, transferring hundreds of sperm to compete for fertilization. Last male precedence exists, with the final male siring 80% of offspring through displacement and incapacitation of previous sperm.

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Drosophila Melanogaster Lifespan & Mating

The lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster is approximately 30 days at 29°C. Development time varies with temperature, taking 7 days at 28°C and 11 days at 30°C due to heat stress. Under ideal conditions of 25°C, development takes 8.5 days. Females lay about 400 eggs over several days into decaying fruit, where the larvae feed until pupating and emerging as adults after about 10 days total development time. Males court females through song and tapping, then copulate for 15-20 minutes, transferring hundreds of sperm to compete for fertilization. Last male precedence exists, with the final male siring 80% of offspring through displacement and incapacitation of previous sperm.

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slavicasr
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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The D. melanogaster lifespan is about 30 days at 29 C (84 F).

The developmental period for Drosophila melanogaster varies with temperature, as with many ectothermic species. The shortest development time (egg to adult), 7 days, is achieved at 28 C (82 F).[5][6] Development times increase at higher temperatures (11 days at 30 C or 86 F) due to heat stress. Under ideal conditions, the development time at 25 C (77 F) is 8.5 days,[5][6][7] at 18 C (64 F) it takes 19 days[5][6] and at 12 C(54 F) it takes over 50 days.[5] [6] Under crowded conditions, development time increases,[8] while the emerging flies are smaller.[8][9] Females lay some 400 eggs (embryos), about five at a time, into rotting fruit or other suitable material such as decaying mushrooms and sap fluxes. The eggs, which are about 0.5 millimetres long, hatch after 1215 hours (at 25 C or 77 F).[5][6] The resulting larvae grow for about 4 days (at 25 C) whilemolting twice (into 2nd- and 3rd-instar larvae), at about 24 and 48 h after hatching.[5][6] During this time, they feed on the microorganisms that decompose the fruit, as well as on the sugar of the fruit itself. Then the larvae encapsulate in the puparium and undergo a four-day-longmetamorphosis (at 25 C), after which the adults eclose (emerge).[5][6]

Mating fruit flies. Note the sex combs on the forelegs of the male (insert)

Females become receptive to courting males at about 812 hours after emergence. [10] The female fruit fly prefers a shorter duration when it comes to sex. Males, on the other hand, prefer it to last longer.[11] Males perform a sequence of five behavioral patterns to court females. First, males orient themselves while playing a courtship song by horizontally extending and vibrating their wings. Soon after, the male positions itself at the rear of the female's abdomen in a low posture to tap and lick the female genitalia. Finally, the male curls its abdomen, and attempts copulation. Females can reject males by moving away, kicking and extruding their ovipositor. Copulation lasts around 1520 minutes, [12] during which males transfer a few hundred very long (1.76 mm) sperm cells in seminal fluid to the female. [13] Females store the sperm in a tubular receptacle and in two mushroomshaped spermathecae, sperm from multiple matings compete for fertilization. A last male precedence is believed to exist in which the last male to mate with a female sires approximately 80% of her offspring. This precedence was found to occur through displacement and incapacitation.[14] The displacement is attributed to sperm handling by the female fly as multiple matings are conducted and is most significant during the first 12 days after copulation. Displacement from the seminal receptacle is more significant than displacement from the spermathecae.[14] Incapacitation of first male sperm by second male sperm becomes significant 27 days after copulation. The seminal fluid of the second male is believed to be responsible for this incapacitation mechanism (without removal of first male sperm) which takes effect before fertilization occurs.[14] The delay in effectiveness of the

incapacitation mechanism is believed to be a protective mechanism that prevents a male fly from incapacitating its own sperm should it mate with the same female fly repetitively. [14]

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