Evolutionary conservation and diversification of auditory neural circuits that process courtship songs in Drosophila.

Acoustic communication signals diversify even on short evolutionary time scales. To understand how the auditory system underlying acoustic communication could evolve, we conducted a systematic comparison of the early stages of the auditory neural circuit involved in song information processing between closely-related fruit-fly species. Male Drosophila melanogaster and D.

A single male auditory response test to quantify auditory behavioral responses in .

Many animals utilize auditory signals to communicate with conspecific individuals. During courtship, males of the fruit fly and related species produce a courtship song comprised of sine and pulse songs by vibrating their wings. The pulse song increases female receptivity and male courtship activity, indicating that it functions as a sexual signal.