Plants Trick Flies Into Sex, Making Subsequent Relationship Awkward

Thursday, January 30, 2014 - 13:30 in Biology & Nature

Tricked Fly AG Ellis In this week's important science news, flies are found to essentially be wasted college students making bad decisions. Researchers from Stellenbosch University in South Africa studying the habits of bee flies showed that species of orchids and daisies trick flies into pollinating with them by mimicking female insects, even going so far as to make sexy fly-shaped bumps. But, as described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B study and relayed via the excellent ScienceNews headline "Sexually deceived flies not hopelessly dumb," the flies get all weird about it, and don't spend as much time trying to mate with the plants in the future. Which is sad when you think about it. Will the fly ever be able to overcome that? Can it still connect with other flies, or has it been emotionally scarred for life by the deception?  Other studies...

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