Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all! I'm a new dart frog owner and found this forum, and I've enjoyed reading through the previous posts. Great bunch of folks here, and lots of good information.

Just a quick comment and question on fruit fly culturing (which I'm just starting to get into).

I have heard of the flightless ones "reverting" to wild-type with the ability to fly. After looking around on the web, however, many people believe that the flightless mutations are very stable. They think that most "reversions" are actually wild flies who lay eggs on the container top (usually porous) which somehow make it into the medium and breed.

My question is: how often in practical experience do you need to start with a fresh-from-the-supplier flightless culture due to these reversion incidents?

Thanks!
Kevin

Kevin,

The vestigial wing trait in fruit flies is a homozygous
recessive trait and should not revert, so yes it is stable.
I bought flies from some vendor one time and after a few months of
subculturing I ended up with "wild type" flies. I don't know if
this is a mutation or if like you said some wild flies may have gotten in.
Anyway, as a general rule one should start fresh with culturing
= new blood every six months to avoid problems like this.

Welcome and Good Luck
-----
Justin
stk18119@loki.stockton.edu

D.auratus
D.leucomelas
D.tinctorius (lorenzo, yellowback, citro, pb, oyopock,etc.)
D.azureus
D.ventrimaculatus (yellow/gold)
D.pumilio (blue jeans, solid red)
P.aurotaenia (narrow bands/green)
P.bicolor
E.tricolor (Santa Isabel)
H. leucophyllata
P. hypochondrialis azurea
P. resinfictrix
etc.......

I had my strain (hydei)going since '96 and still going strong. I had two other kinds (hydei and melonogaster), but failed to produce enough with each culture over time. This strain has kept 100 frogs well feed for years. Religious culturing and killing the cultures before they go real bad plus steriling the jars goes along way. I typically have around 30-40 cultures going.

Oh, by the way, they have not reverted to the flying type. The only time they started flying was when I accidently had some hydei and melonogaster mix in some cultures.

Also, I use old dress shirts for the cover and I have seen fruit flys flying over the cultures during the summer months and had no incidents of reversion.

WM