Re: Fruit flies, but nuts sink

MBT1159@ACS.TAMU.EDU
Wed, 28 Sep 1994 12:25:19 -0500 (CDT)

I just got out of my Genetics 301 class, in which we are doing crosses
with Drosophila. I asked the T.A. about the temperature dependency for
vestigial winged flies. He said that some strains of these are not dependent
on temperature, while some of them are. If the temperature of these sensitive
flies is too high, the wings will be larger, but not wild type. They'll look
more fringed than round. The temperature to keep them at is about between 22C
and 24C. Above 26C and you'll get larger wings. I'm not sure about the flying
capabilities of these fringed wing flies, but I'm sure they can. If you're
going to use something like banana as a substrate, I'd suggest some kind of
heat pasteurization (stick it in the microwave on low for a minute or so).
This should get rid of naturally occurring wild flies that are in the banana.
This will keep more of those little buggers grounded and out of the missus
hair. =)

Matt Thompson
Texas A&M University