Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

The longest tusk of cf. Anancus sivalensis (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the Tatrot Formation of the Siwaliks, Pakistan

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Question mark in circle
Preprint: policy unknown
Question mark in circle
Postprint: policy unknown
Question mark in circle
Published version: policy unknown

Abstract

Figure 1. Scatter plot for fruit weight (g) and B. dorsalis oviposition punctures (#) in three mango varieties. Theoretically, for a female fruit fly with multiple ovi-positions on a single fruit, it is biologically advantageous to oviposit in a fruit with more pulp as more eggs can be laid for a unit of food resource (pulp) available to the maggots, spending lesser amount of time and energy. But this assumption was not true. The objective of this study was to see whether fruit exploitation for oviposition varied with quantum (weight of fruit pulp). The results of the study indicate that in all the three varieties, oviposition by fruit flies was not influenced by the quantum (= weight) of the fruit pulp of mango. This does not exclude the role of other visual or olfactory cues. The plausible issue for a gravid poly-phagous female seemed to be selecting a suitable host tree (mango) first and then to randomly oviposit within a host on an unlimited resource – fruits in this case, which on an average is 200–1000/mango tree, depending on the age of the orchard. So, we infer that fruit flies have a random selection of mango fruits for oviposition irrespec-tive of fruit weight, either due to the incapability of dis-criminating a higher volume of visual or olfactory cues, expected in heavier fruits, or the fact that two 'small' fruits are as good as one 'big' fruit in a resource-unlimited situation, as in a typical mango orchard. So, for B. dor-salis to adapt a non-random ovipositional strategy once a host is selected does not confer any additional advantage. Thus, every fruit on a tree has equal probability of being selected by the fruit fly for oviposition. This was true for all three varieties chosen for the study and commercially speaking, every fruit is equally vulnerable to attack by fruit flies.