How Do Flies Mate?
When flies mate, both the male and the female fly vibrate in rapid rhythms, stretching their wings and heading towards each other. The female may show some resistance at this point and try to shake the male off, but the male will eventually land on a surface and mate with her. After mating, the male fly will ingest the female’s organ, which will store sperm until her ova are ready for fertilization.
The female will then eject her hind legs and fold them beneath her wings. The male will then move forward to stroke the female’s head. This mating process can take up to two hours. The male will also eat the female’s body secretions, including the protein-rich tissues found on her body.
Flies breed in dirty environments, such as food, animal carcasses, waste dumps, and wounds. While they may have a choice of female mates, they do not know which one they were last fed by. As a result, they often mate with different females.
Flies’ courtship behavior is controlled by a brain chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is responsible for directing desires and motivation, and male flies with high levels of dopamine are highly motivated to court their female partners. Until recently, however, it was unknown how this chemical influenced the courtship behavior of male flies. To investigate the neural mechanisms governing this behavior, researchers used a combination of methods. For example, they mutated the receptors on some neurons so that they would light up under the microscope, and they manipulated the neurons’ activity by adding or deleting receptors on other neurons’ surfaces.