COURTSHIP AND MATING SOUNDS IN SPECIES OF THE DROSOPHILA AFFINIS SUBGROUP

Evidence has accumulated that sounds produced by courting Drosophilas serve for recognition and acceptance in mating, and interspecific differences of such sounds may be important for reproductive isolation (e.g. Ewing and Bennet-Clark, 1968). It has been shown (Miller, Goldstein, and Patty, 1975) that the widespread North American species Drosophila athabasca consists of three semispecies with different courtship sounds. We now report an investigation of sounds related to courtship and mating in five other sibling species of the D. affinis subgroup: affinis, algonquin, azteca, narragansett, and tolteca. Additional observations of such sounds were also made on the three athabasca semispecies and on hybrids between semispecies "eastern B" and D. azteca.