Food odour gates male courtship in Drosophila erecta

A study by Brand et al., published in Nature in 2026 and available via doi.org, reports that mating in the fruit fly Drosophila erecta is strictly contingent on the ecological and social environment that forms when flies aggregate densely on a food patch doi.org. According to the authors, food volatiles directly promote male sexual arousal and prompt males to sample and pursue potential mates doi.org.

The resulting interactions across the group produce visual motion that transforms each male's visual field. This motion, in turn, further amplifies his arousal. The authors describe it as a multisensory feedback loop that promotes courtship in a coordinated way across individuals doi.org.

Food odour as a sensory gate

Reproduction and population density in D. erecta are tightly linked to the seasonal availability of its host fruit, the screwpine Pandanus, which creates a narrow window for individuals to meet and mate doi.org. The authors proposed that the species has evolved behavioural adaptations that couple reproduction to cues from its host. In their experiments, food volatiles drove aggregation and acted as a stringent sensory gate for male sexual arousal doi.org.

Food odour also changes the visual setting of courtship, because it encourages males to approach and sample prospective mates and so increases visual motion. D. erecta males are highly sensitive to this increase, in contrast to D. melanogaster doi.org.

Comparison with D. melanogaster

In D. melanogaster, a close relative, food odour can promote arousal but is dispensable for vigorous courtship doi.org. Comparative circuit analyses showed that species-specific thresholds for sexual arousal reflect differences in how olfactory input modulates conserved nodes that control courtship drive. Food volatiles are therefore a strict sensory gate only in D. erecta doi.org.

The authors suggest that this variation may be a neural substrate for rapid tuning of the sensory thresholds that govern arousal doi.org. They note that Drosophila species differ in where they mate. Members of the D. melanogaster subgroup mate on decaying host plants where many individuals congregate. D. elegans establishes individual territories on host flowers, and species of the Hawaiian subgroup perform competitive lekking in vegetation around their hosts doi.org.

The authors conclude that environmental cues not directly tied to sexual signalling can strongly influence reproductive behaviour and reorganize the social landscape, so that mating occurs where reproductive opportunities are abundant doi.org.

Food odour gates male courtship in Drosophila erecta, but not in D. melanogaster, study in flies finds

Food odour as a sensory gate

Comparison with D. melanogaster

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