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Journal of Experimental Biology 47,297-305 (1967)
Published by Company of Biologists 1967

Extraretinal Pigmentation and Colour Discrimination : I. Choice of Colour of Substrate During Oviposition in Drosophila Melanogaster

P. VOLPE ¹, M. CARFAGNA ², and M. DI LORENZO ²

¹ Istituto di Biologia Generale e Genetica dell'Università, Naples, Italy; International Laboratory of Genetics and Biophysics, Naples, Italy
² Istituto di Biologia Generale e Genetica dell'Università, Naples, Italy

1. The hypothesis that the choice of substrate colour for oviposition may vary preferentially according to the type of eye pigment has been confirmed by experiments on three phenotypes of D. melanogaster, the normal or wild type, the vermilion mutant, having no homochrome, and the brown mutant, lacking pteridine.

2. The results can be summarized thus: (a) no preferential selection on the part of the wild phenotype; (b) unambiguous preference by vermilion for blue, a preference less clearly marked for yellow, with green rejected; and (c) clear preference by the brown mutant for green, with rejection of blue.

3. Choice of colour during oviposition was found to be different from that expressed by phototactic response to certain monochromatic lights, as reported some years ago.

4. The probable biological significance of such behaviour in functions which are physiologically distinct is also discussed.