• hperrin@lemmy.world
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    18 days 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
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      18 days 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.

  • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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    19 days 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.

  • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
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    19 days 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
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      19 days 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

    • azi@mander.xyz
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      19 days 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
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      19 days 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.

    • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      Liberals

      All authoritarians left AND right. Please learn your political compass so you can have grown up conversations.

    • psud@aussie.zone
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      19 days ago

      That really makes me wonder what you mean by liberal

      My take on the word highlights individual freedom except where it interferes with other individual’s freedoms

      My take has most regulation put on corporations, ie. you and I are pretty free; Google has rules to follow (and so does the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker)

      To make it clear the common liberal position is individuals should be free to do as they want unless it is harmful to others; companies should be regulated enough to protect people, the environment, competition

      • humblebun@sh.itjust.works
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        19 days ago

        Add to it the rule that every free person could have up to 3 slaves and I’m in

        Oh no? Isn’t it the same as having 12 full time workers?

        • psud@aussie.zone
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          19 days ago

          Slaves? We have electricity and automation. Although slaves might make things easier, slaves are people and should have the same freedoms as you and me

          Also employees would have might higher production than the same number of slaves

  • flora_explora@beehaw.org
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    18 days 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 :/