Associations between female remating behavior, oogenesis and oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura

An association between female remating behavior, oogenesis and oviposition was examined in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura to inv estigate mechanisms that elicit remating. Females receptive to remating ovi posited more eggs in both species; however, the species differed in the ass ociation between remating behavior and the number and distribution of oocyt e stages. We found no differences in the number of either developing eggs o f different stages or mature eggs between female D. pseudoobscura that were either receptive or nonreceptive to remating. In contrast, D. melanogaster females that are receptive to remating had significantly more mature eggs in the ovaries than nonreceptive females. Nonremating females had a signifi cantly greater number of immature, vitellogenic oocytes. These results sugg est that factors associated with oogenesis are related to female remating b ehavior in D. melanogaster but not in D. pseudoobscura. We discuss these re sults in conjunction with other evidence on the role male ejaculatory compo nents play in mediating female remating behavior. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.