Annotated Bibliography

Turiegano E, Monedero I, Pita M, Torroja L, Canal I. 2012. Effect of Drosophila melanogaster Female Size on Male Mating Success. J Insect Behav.

This article considers the importance of female size when examining male mating success. Previous studies have revealed that larger males tend to have higher mating success, but did not take female size into account. The study confirmed that male size affects mating success, but stresses that this must always be considered relative to female size. Males show greater latency to courtship toward larger females, larger females receive more wing vibrations from males during courtship, and larger females move around more during courtship. The article discusses possible reasons for observed behaviours, and invites further study into the relation of female and male size variation toward mating behaviour.