MSU entomologist says fruit fly evolved, now lays eggs on apples
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Entomologist James J. Smith, associate professor of biology, Lyman Briggs College, jimsmith@msu.edu
MSU entomologist James J. Smith and colleagues report that a new species of fruit fly has evolved after changing its mating behavior to favor laying eggs on apples instead of its characteristic hawthorn tree fruit host. As those flies became genetically different from the parent hawthorn fly, so did the parasitic wasps that prey on the flies’ larvae.
“It makes sense that biodiversity would beget biodiversity,” acknowledged Smith, who is an associate professor of biology in Lyman Briggs College, MSU’s interdisciplinary science undergraduate program, and in the MSU Department of Entomology.
More at http://news.msu.edu/story/5931/