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Fruit Flies (mander.xyz)
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[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 1 points 34 minutes ago

Oh yeah, that brings up memories. We had to do the same experiments in genetics lab, too. I'll never forget the smell of fruit flies :/

[-] jmsy@lemmy.world 12 points 3 hours ago

time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Reminds me of the old joke, what do you call a fly with no wings?

A walk.

[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

They’re called fruit flies because they gather around rotting fruit.

But there are also “true fruit flies” which do eat fruit.

[-] Welt@lazysoci.al 0 points 3 hours ago

They're generally called vinegar flies, and they don't infest fresh fruit like fruit flies do when they lay their eggs in fruit.

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

Where my cheeky FlyNap sniffers at?

[-] undergroundoverground@lemmy.world 24 points 10 hours ago

You already know what you call a fly with no wings

A walk

[-] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 19 points 10 hours ago

Are horseflies a lie because they don't eat horses?

[-] psoul@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

Ok let me introduce you to the barn owl

[-] Seleni@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

But they do? Along with any other animal that happens to be nearby.

That is the one insect I will go out of my way to kill.

[-] EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

You're right. They only drink horse (and cattle) blood.

Horse or cow vampire fly is a little long winded for a name.

[-] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 9 hours ago

Without a lie they'd just be horsefs

[-] EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Came up with that yoursef, did you?

...Jousef

[-] federated_toast@lemm.ee 15 points 9 hours ago
[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 22 points 9 hours ago

No it's because they take a horse sized chunk out of you when they bite you

[-] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 10 hours ago

Can somebody explain the fruit thing? I've seen fruit flies demolish fresh fruit. The amount of yeast biomass on them must be negligible at that point. Do the eggs/larvae spread the yeast before they start eating?

[-] psud@aussie.zone 9 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

There's even the old Marx brothers joke "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"

The fruit fly trap taught to me by an entomologist friend is baited with wine, suggesting the fruit flies want fermenting fruit

The trap: get a plastic fizzy drink bottle; bigger is better

Cut off the top. The cut piece is a cone

Place the cone (the top piece) upside down on the rest of the bottle

Sticky tape the joint

Bait with cheap wine or leftover wine or beer. The bait is poured down the funnel into the trap

Her tastes were revealed in the description of baiting the trap — she specified red wine, but I have tested with various booze and fruit flies have no taste, they'll go for anything. You could probably extract bait from the sourdough starter you made in lockdown and kept alive despite never making bread after that first try

[-] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 4 points 5 hours ago

Doesn't even have to be actual booze. Apple cider vinegar + a drop of dawn dish soap works a treat.

[-] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 2 hours ago

I guess not everyone has easy access to booze

[-] azi@mander.xyz 12 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

The fruit flies you've seen eating fresh fruit are probably Drosophila suzukii (spotted wing fruit fly). Most (all?) other Drosophila species (including the model organism Drosophila melanogaster) only feed on rotting fruit. Though they'll consume the sugars too, not just the microorganisms. So standard lab diets include sugar along with yeast and often cornmeal.

There are also some more distantly related flies that feed on fresh fruit and are commonly called fruit flies, eg Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly)

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 10 points 10 hours ago

I’m sure the meme is apocryphal, and it’s not entirely correct. Fruit flies do eat yeast, yes…but they also eat the sugars in the fermenting fruit, not just the microorganisms causing fruit decay. I don’t know about the larvae at all, though.

[-] Sabata11792@ani.social 40 points 13 hours ago

I wish I had the time and money to create crimes against nature.

[-] psud@aussie.zone 5 points 5 hours ago
[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

It's not like they built the car, though.

[-] SerpentPeaked@lemmynsfw.com 67 points 15 hours ago

What other lies have we been told? Does time not fly like an arrow?

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

Mosquito hawks do not, in fact, eat mosquitos.

I no longer respect those annoying fuckers.

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 102 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Emperor penguins and king penguins are not descendants of any royal bloodlines and do not have an understanding of monarchical governments.

[-] EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

You sound like a conspiracy wonk.

They are the only true emperors & kings recognized by the flightless aristocracy.

Tis the human "royals" who are living lies!

[-] Demdaru@lemmy.world 14 points 12 hours ago

Better yet, they aren't actually penguins - they were just called that because they resembled real penguins.

Which are literally dead today, because they dared live close to humans.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 6 points 10 hours ago

because they dared live close to humans.

Poor dumb bastards.

[-] JohnWorks@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

What the fuck...

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago

Gray Knights have been dispatched to your location, please stand by.

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 11 points 13 hours ago

Awesome, this daemon infestation on my computer (Gentoo of course) is really starting to annoy me.

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[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 8 points 11 hours ago

Nah, it just trips into the future

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Trippin', trippin', trippin'

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[-] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 50 points 15 hours ago

Earthlings don't eat Earth either. They're still Earthlings.

Sperm whales don't eat sperm.

Mayflies don't eat May or any other month.

[-] EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

Wtf do earthlings eat other than earth? Plants, animals & fungus are all parts of Earth TO BE EATEN

By other animals or fungus.

[-] pufferfisherpowder@lemmy.world 18 points 11 hours ago

W wait a s second! What do sperm wales eat? Have I been pointlessly jacking off into the ocean for decades??

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[-] TerminalEncounter@hexbear.net 21 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I always felt bad for em, we either drowned them in alcohol or froze them. I also felt guilt boiling the ecoli I spent time genetically engineering (in a genetics uni lab)

[-] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 5 hours ago

I have rescued so many fruit flies from my beer. You hardly need to drown them, just present them with a 5% ethanol by volume solution and let them drown themselves

(My beer system is outside in my courtyard, fruit flies love the drip tray)

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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
1032 points (98.6% liked)

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