A couple of days ago, while sitting in front of my computer, busy preparing some old photographs that appeared in the post last Monday ...
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... I noticed a small fly on the screen. Not the fly that you can see in this opening picture. That's the Geomyza tripunctata photographed in September of 2021. If you enlarge the following photograph ...
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... you'll see the minuscule fly that inspired today's post. I draw an arrow and wrote a bit of text to help you find it in the picture. When I took the photograph, I didn't know what kind of fly I'm observing.
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It was only through the macro lens that allowed me to see all the details that I recognized the Drosophila melanogaster, a widespread species commonly known as the Lesser fruit fly. This photograph was taken with the flash on because the light in the room was pretty low.
Here I tried to show the scene in ambient light. The picture is muddled because the ISO value was too high for an elegant shot with sharp details.
Soon the fruit fly got enough of my flashing and flew away, towards the bags and beach balls on the chair across the room. Now I remembered storing some fruits in that forgotten corner that I rarely visit.
The rotting kiwifruits piled in a bag created a perfect habitat for these flies.
While decaying, the kiwi releases a gentle and refreshing vinegar odor into the air. Nothing strong or unpleasant. I did sense the aroma from time to time, but was convinced that is coming from the kitchen or somewhere outside the house.
Only by following the fly, did I discover the state that the fruits were in.
When I started photographing the flies inside the paper bag ...
... some of them got scared and flew out of it.
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Now I had flies everywhere.
On the outer side of the paper bag.
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On its handle.
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On the beach ball.
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And especially - on the curtains.
I had plenty of fun observing the flies.
Some were busy chasing each other.
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One of the flies in this photograph ...
... was slowly circling the other two and communicating by moving its wings. It looked like some kind of ritual dance.
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A bit later, on the outer surface of the paper bag ...
... I found this mating pair.
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Due to its rapid life cycle, relatively simple genetics with only four pairs of chromosomes, and a large number of offspring per generation this species is still widely used in genetic research. Drosophila melanogaster feeds and reproduces only on the fruits that are already rotting, these flies don't do any damage to the stored food.
Some kiwifruits were stored in a blue nylon bag. Besides accelerating the decaying process that makes the flies happy ...
... the blue nylon also provided a beautiful background for photography.
Photographed in this macro landscape that evokes blue hills or the ocean ...
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... the flies looked even better.
The one in this photograph was busy cleaning its feeding apparatus.
Here you can see a fruit fly posing on the curtain.
This one was also photographed on the curtain. But from above.
The texture of the fabric created a cool and kind of artsy composition with the two flies on it.
This is the first shot I took when I discovered the flies in and around the paper bags. It's here only to show that I rarely take good photographs immediately. The shooting usually starts with dull pictures like the one you just saw, and then, if the insects don't run or fly away, the things get better ... usually. With the following photograph ...
... the focus is on the PC screen again. On the screen and the anonymous fruit fly that started a series of events that led to this post.
AND THAT'S IT ...
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... AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.