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Evolution of Complex Acoustic Signals in Drosophila Species

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Handbook of Behavior Genetics

Males of most Drosophila species produce complex acoustic cues, so-called courtship songs, while pursuing a female. In most of the over 100 species studied so far (see the list of these species in Hoikkala, 2005), such cues are produced by wing vibration. Other mechanisms of song production include abdomen purring (Hoy, Hoikkala, & Kaneshiro, 1988) and rapid vibrations of the whole body (Ritchie & Gleason, 1995). The carrier frequency of songs produced through any of these actions ranges from 150 to 500 Hz. A hitherto unknown mechanism enables males of some Hawaiian species to generate songs of up to 15,000 Hz (Hoikkala, Hoy, & Kaneshiro, 1989).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

    Anneli Hoikkala

  2. Institute of Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland

    Dominique Mazzi

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  1. Anneli Hoikkala
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Correspondence to Anneli Hoikkala .

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  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Yong-Kyu Kim Ph.D

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Hoikkala, A., Mazzi, D. (2009). Evolution of Complex Acoustic Signals in Drosophila Species. In: Kim, YK. (eds) Handbook of Behavior Genetics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76727-7_13

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