Oviposition site preferences and performance in natural resources in the human commensals Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans

The choice of egg laying site and progeny's performance in a rearing site are important components of habitat selection. Despite the huge amount of genetic, morphological, behavioral and physiological data regarding Drosophila melanogaster Meigen and D. simulans Sturtevant, oviposition site preferences remain poorly known. We investigated resource preference (acceptance and choice) and performance (measured as larval viability, developmental time and wing size) in Vitis vinifera Linneo (grape) and Cydonia oblonga Miller (quince), two fruit plants that D. melanogaster and D. simulans use as breeding substrates in Western Argentina. Females of both species preferred V. vinifera over C. oblonga when offered to lay eggs on grape and/or quince, with D. melanogaster showing a more biased preference for V. vinifera than its sibling. Concerning performance, flies reared in C. oblonga developed faster than in V. vinifera, regardless of the species and D. simulans had a shorter developmental time than D. melanogaster. We also observed inter and intraspecific (between flies reared in different resources) differences in wing size and shape. Our study provides novel data concerning ecological aspects scarcely addressed in these species, and suggest that the use of different resource may be a relevant factor in their recent evolutionary history.