Female insects and animals, including humans, often enjoy receiving gifts from their suitors. However, a study has shown that male flies often entice females with meaningless fake gifts.
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| Dancing Fly Rhamphomyia sulcata (Photo: insektenfotos) |
When the female realizes that her mate is a con artist and is bombarding her with his wings, the male has already finished and left, not forgetting to take his fake gift to seek out another female.
These deceivers in the animal kingdom can easily lure the greedy females into traps, ensuring that their genes are passed on.
Scientists have studied the Dancing Fly Rhamphomyia sulcata. The males of this species often present enticing gifts to the females, such as a large, delicious beetle, to gain her “favor.”
To investigate whether these pampered females are easily tricked, researchers replaced the real gifts with pieces of insect remains or cotton-like balls that males often present to females.
“Male flies often deceive with bundles of seeds, silk balls, or leaves and twigs,” said Natasha LeBas from the University of Western Australia.
In this case, the time the female fly spends inspecting and trying to eat the cotton-like ball is long enough for the male to mate with her.
The researchers also found a correlation between the size and quality of the gift and the duration of copulation. Truly impressive gifts lead to longer “intimacy”. The duration decreases with smaller, yet real gifts, followed by symbolic gifts, and finally tiny, meaningless objects.
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A pair of flies “in action” on a leaf while the female enjoys a tasty beetle gift. |
The male takes advantage of the situation while the female is busy munching on the cotton-like ball. |
If the female does not grasp the gift, she immediately ends the fun and chases off the male.
LeBas explains that deceiving with symbolic gifts has little effect on the species, but it reveals the struggle between the sexes regarding how males and females invest in reproduction.
“Each side wants to invest less and gain more. This study is an example of a species where males, who must invest heavily with nutritious gifts, have found a more efficient way with symbolic gifts, as the females will take some time to inspect the fake food.”
Steven Heydon, a senior scientist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, commented: “Insects need to go out and hunt; otherwise, they become targets for other predators. If you are an insect out there looking for food, it’s quite likely another bird will hunt you. By giving the female a fake gift, the male has a better chance of mating more often, as they will survive longer.”
Heydon noted that some flies even offer their partners an empty silk-wrapped box. “When the female opens the gift and finds it empty, the male has already finished with her.”
