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Mating Walnut Flies:
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Mating Walnut Flies: Summary

Let's summarize what's been covered.

  • In walnut flies, both males and female mate multiple times.
  • Copulations last either a short time (less than three minutes) or a long time (more than ten minutes) -- why?
  • When females are plentiful, males who mate with many females in a short time fertilize the most eggs.
  • When males outnumber females, males that continue mating for a long time fertilize more eggs than those that move rapidly from female to female.
  • This is in accordance with the predictions of "optimal foraging theory:" when food patches (females) are far apart (search/travel time is long), foragers (males) maximize their energy gain (egg fertilization rate) by staying in each patch (with each female) for a relatively longer time.
  • Researchers at the University of Arizona demonstrated this by manipulating the sex ratios of walnut flies. Under male-biased sex ratios, copulations were longer than under female-biased sex ratios.

End of Walnut Flies module.

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