role of female movement in the sexual behavior of Drosophila melanogaster

Normal Drosophila melanogaster males rapidly react to changes in the mobility of mutant shibire super(ts) females by performing less courtship when the females are paralyzed and by courting moving shibire super(ts) females vigorously. Mutant optomotor-blind males, which are unable to respond to certain horizontally moving patterns, sustain abnormally short courtship bouts when tested with normal females, almost never perform orientation, one of the courtship behaviors, and require more time to initiate copulation than normal males. These results suggest that males must perceive female movement to perform normal courtship and copulation. Normal females become stationary before copulation occurs.