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Biomedical subjects

A Hoikkala

Publications and source records attributed to A Hoikkala.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Inheritance of male courtship sound characteristics in Drosophila littoralis.

Males of Drosophila littoralis vibrate their wings during courtship to deliver a "love song." This consists of 25- to 50-ms-long pulses with a basic frequency of about 250-400 Hz, separated by 250- to 500-ms pauses. When recording the sounds of flies from several localities in Europe, we found that males of one strain from northern Finland displayed courtship sounds with an unusually low wing beat frequency (below 250 Hz). In a genetic analysis utilizing marker stocks, the anomalous frequency was found to be caused by genes on all major autosomes, the strongest factors being on the second chromosome. Interaction between genes on chromosome 2 and on the fused chromosome 3-4 was non-additive. In low-frequency sounds, the number of cycles in the pulse (CN) was decreased, so that the length of the sound pulse (PL) remained more or less unchanged. We suggest that the genetically and physiologically most thoroughly controlled trait in the sound of Drosophila littoralis is the length of the pulse.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Hawaiian courtship songs: evolutionary innovation in communication signals of Drosophila.

In Hawaii, flies of the genus Drosophila have undergone spectacular adaptive radiation, resulting in the evolution of more than 500 species of Drosophila that are found nowhere else on earth. This taxonomic uniqueness is reflected in behavior and morphology. Hawaiian Drosophila sing songs, as do continental Drosophila; however, the Hawaiian songs have diverged strongly in form and mechanism of production. The click-song of D. fasciculisetae's (Maui) has a carrier frequency an order of magnitude higher than those reported in familiar continental species, such as D. melanogaster (170 hertz). Drosophila fasciculisetae's song resembles a cicada's more than a fly's song. The song of D. cyrtoloma (Maui) has a complex pulse rhythm more typical of crickets than flies. The pulse song of D. silvestris (Hawaii) closely resembles that of D. melanogaster in both pulse rhythm and carrier frequency, but D. melanogaster sings by vibrating its wings, whereas D. silvestris sings through abdominal vibrations. These mechanisms are radical departures from the continental wing song mechanism and are further examples of the remarkable behavioral innovation that has occurred in the Drosophila of Hawaii during their evolutionary transit through these islands.

Animal Communication↗