Temporal Preferences versus Song Learning Across Populations of Ormia ochracea

EPSRC : Brendan Latham : EP/T517938/1

This project will measure the behavioural responses in a certain fly species, 'Ormia ochracea', to a variety of cricket mating songs, and from geographically separated North American populations of the fly. This type of fly attacks crickets so that their larvae may feed and mature within the cricket's body. They locate the cricket's position by following the cricket's unique mating song.

Each song is very different, especially in its time-pattern (number of chirps etc). Experiments in the wild have shown that the fly populations will show distinct preferences even when all the cricket songs are equally available. How it is the flies are preferentially choosing dissimilar songs is not yet known.

The research project will address this research gap by measuring fly preferences in the laboratory. It is expected this project will help us find out whether the fly populations are tuned differently to certain song patterns.