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VoidElecent & Bracchymyrmex Drosophila melanogaster Experiment


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#1 Offline VoidElecent - Posted October 1 2017 - 8:58 AM

VoidElecent

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Hello Everyone,

 

A few days ago, my brother and I noticed swarms of fruit flies attacking the overripe bananas on our kitchen counter. We opened the oldest banana, and deposited chunks into three vials.

 

For the first vial, we created a small funnel using a Post-It note and jammed it in the top. This way, the fruit flies would smell the exposed flesh of the rotten banana in the tube, and get trapped trying to reach it. 

 

Before we added funnels to the second vials, we noticed small white worms (Fruit fly larvae) wriggling around in the flesh of the rotten banana. We chose to include flesh with the highest concentrations of larvae, and deposited those chunks into the remaining vials. Rather than capping them with funnels, we plugged the entrances with cotton balls and paper towels.

 

Over the course of about a week, much happened. The vial with the funnel attracted many flies, and there is noticeable larvae in the rotten banana culture. The larvae that were originally in the other two vials have eclosed into male and female fruit flies, who swam the interiors of their containers.

 

Today, we decided to take out Fruit fly farm to the next level. We concocted a culture for them using materials we had around the house:

  • A banana
  • Steel-cut oatmeal
  • Powdered sugar
  • All-purpose flour
  • Warm water
  • Corn starch
  • Baker's yeast.

First, we mashed up a banana on a plate, and added some water. Then, we added about a teaspoon of corn starch, two teaspoons of flour, and a packet of oatmeal. After we dumped the mix into the larger container, we sprinkled a pinch of yeast on the surface.

 

We just dumped all the flies from all of our vials into the larger one, in the hopes that they mate and lay eggs. 

 

I'll update the thread with pictures shortly.


Edited by VoidElecent, October 1 2017 - 9:01 AM.





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