Drosophila "sing" by moving their wings up and down in a wingbeat action. There are two primary song types in Drosophila - pulse song and sine song. The most common song type is pulse song and consists of rapid transients (short-lived oscillations) of low frequency which may be monocyclic or polycyclic. Sine song varies between species in carrier frequency and is caused by extended bouts of wing vibration producing a humming sound. D. robusta was found to use both pulse and sine song; however, pulse song is used for courting a potential mate while sine song is used by both males and females as a signal of rejection or aggression.

Male courtship song and female refusal song:













The image above is an oscillogram of the courtship song of a male D. robusta singing to a female that emits the 'refusal' song. The section containing the female song is highlighted in purple. Click below on the play button to listen to the courtship song represented by the image above.





Male 'aggresion' song:













The image above is an oscillogram of the 'aggression' song of a male D. robusta directed to another male. The two males approach one another and raise their wings in an aggressive action then emit the 'aggession' song while slamming into one another from the side. Click below on the play button to listen to the aggression song represented by the image above.






Male postcopulatory song













The image above is an oscillogram of the 'postcopulatory' song of a male D. robusta after dismounting from a 34 second copulation. The male dismounts the female and stands next to her emitting this song for a period of time after dismounting. Click below on the play button to listen to the postcopulatory song represented by the image above.


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Drosophila Courtship Song