Evolution
In
the face of flesh-eating parasitoid maggots, you better act quick: the
presence of the fly Ormia ochracea on the Hawaiian island of Kauai has
caused the crickets to go quiet. Locking into the chirps of a male
cricket looking for a mate, the fly deposits its maggot offspring onto
the crickets back, whereby the maggots burrow into and devour their
host. Quick to respond, a mutation in the wings became
prevalent among male crickets in a matter of a few years, essentially
removing the chirping mechanism and causing them to be quiet. How did
this mutation take such a strong foothold? Apparently the female
crickets in Hawaii weren't too particular about all that sweet-talking
and laboratory tests showed they were equally willing to mate with a
silent male.
In
the face of flesh-eating parasitoid maggots, you better act quick: the
presence of the fly Ormia ochracea on the Hawaiian island of Kauai has
caused the crickets to go quiet. Locking into the chirps of a male
cricket looking for a mate, the fly deposits its maggot offspring onto
the crickets back, whereby the maggots burrow into and devour their
host. Quick to respond, a mutation in the wings became
prevalent among male crickets in a matter of a few years, essentially
removing the chirping mechanism and causing them to be quiet. How did
this mutation take such a strong foothold? Apparently the female
crickets in Hawaii weren't too particular about all that sweet-talking
and laboratory tests showed they were equally willing to mate with a
silent male.
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