Arundhati Som and Bashisth N. Singh
Published February 4, 2005
Genet. Mol. Res. 4 (1): 1-17 (2005)

About the Authors
Arundhati Som and Bashisth N. Singh

Corresponding author
B.N. Singh
Email: bnsingh@banaras.ernet.in

ABSTRACT

Frequency-dependent mating success was tested for three pairs of wild-type and mutant strains of Drosophila ananassae, MY and yellow body color (y), PN and claret eye color (ca), and TIR and cut wing (ct). The two strains of each pair were chosen for their approximately equal mating propensities. Multiple-choice experiments, using different experimental procedures, were employed. The tests were carried out by direct observation in Elens-Wattiaux mating chambers with five different sex ratios (4:16, 8:12, 10:10, 12:8, and 16:4). There was no assortative mating and sexual isolation between the strains, based on 2 x 2 contingency χ2 analysis and isolation estimate values. One sided rare male mating advantages were found in two experiments, one for ca males and the other for wild-type males (TIR). However, no advantage was found for rare males in the experiment with MY and y flies. Mating disadvantages for rare females were found for sex-linked mutants (y and ct). Two different observational methods (removal or direct observation of mating pairs) imparted no overall significant effects on the outcome of the frequency-dependent mating tests

Key words: Drosophila ananassae, Multiple-choice experiments, Minority-mating success, Mutant flies, Wild-type flies.