Question: Does the experimental data provide support to the hypothesis that the morphological structure of the dance fly females render them more susceptible to entanglement in

Does the experimental data provide support to the hypothesis that the morphological structure of the dance fly females render them more susceptible to entanglement in spider webs?

BIO360, Fall 2025 Computer Lab 6: Testing two-way tables H. Wagner, Biology UTM Computer Lab 6: Female ornaments hinder escape from spider webs in a dance fly Photo credit: http://bugguide.net (1, 2), www4.ncsu.eu (3) This case study was developed by Angela Khidhir based on a publication by Gwynne et al. (2007) as part of a ROP399 with H. Wagner. Introduction The long-tailed dance flies, Rhamphomyia longicauda, are a sex-role reversed species where females compete for access to the males and thus expose themselves to predation risks. The females have been observed to be caught more often in spider webs near mating swarm sites than males. Gwynne et al. (2007) have hypothesized that the reason behind this phenomenon is that the morphological structure of the females hinders their escape. The females have rows of scales over the legs and abdominal sacs that inflate upon entry in a female competitive mating swarm, making the females more desirable to the males who ascend preferentially towards the large females. Based on their hypothesis, Gwynne et al. (2007) predicted that males, uninflated females and inflated females differ in their risk of getting entangled in spider webs. To test the hypothesis, they conducted a study on the banks of the Credit River in Halton Country. 276 trials were conducted over 10 days, with a different fly used each trial. They used the spider webs of two species, one from genus Araneus and one from genus Coras. Each fly was released from an insect net to fly towards a box of two square wood frames sandwiching a web. A video camera was used to observe the flies. The number of flies that escaped without touching the web, the number of flies that touched the web without entangling, and the number of flies that touched and became entangled were recorded. There were no systematic differences in dance fly response to Araneus and Coras webs, hence the two data sets were pooled for this assignment

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock