A. Hoikkala et Ky. Kaneshiro, VARIATION IN MALE WING SONG CHARACTERS IN DROSOPHILA-PLANTIBIA (HAWAIIAN PICTURE-WINGED DROSOPHILA GROUP), Journal of insect behavior, 10(3), 1997, pp. 425-436
The males of most species of the Hawaiian Drosophila planitibia group
produce songs when vibrating their wings during courtship. In four of
the most recently evolved species, D. differens, D. planitibia, D. het
eroneura, and D. silvestris, these songs are simple in structure and p
ossess a higher and more variable carrier frequency than the songs of
the more ancestral species of the group. In the present paper, we stud
ied the variation in wing song production and song characters in a D.
planitibia population. Some males vibrated their wings at a very low a
mplitude or slow speed, producing no detectable sound. Other males pro
duced sound bursts varying in carrier frequency and burst length. The
carrier frequency of the song depended mainly on the wing posture of t
he male during wing vibrations and was consistent for individual males
. Variation between males of different isofemale progenies was not sig
nificant in any measured song trait. Songs of the males recorded in th
e present study differed, however, from songs of the males of a labora
tory strain recorded earlier.