Fruit Fly Lab Report

This experiment was conducted to determine whether or not Callosobruchus maculatus, or bean beetles, had a bean color preference for oviposition choice. Oviposition is the process of a female insect laying her eyes on plant parts and other materials, which can be influenced by many factors. The bean beetle eggs are opaque and clear, which allowed us to test the hypothesis that C. maculatus prefer the darker red Adzuki beans over the white Black-eyed peas for oviposition choice. Two different colored bean types were used, the red Adzuki beans and the white Black-eyed peas. We placed three female and two male bean beetles in each petri dish, with 55 of each bean type randomly placed in the dish, for a week. After a week, the beans were collected and the number of eggs on each bean was counted

maculatus, prefers a certain color bean to oviposition on, we used a group of bean beetles with their natal beans being the green mung beans, which was provided in the laboratory. Next, we decided on two new colored beans to test our hypothesis. We chose the red Adzuki beans because they were a darker color and the white Black-eyed peas because they were a lighter color. Even though the colors contrasted from each other, the two types of beans were relatively the same size, which excluded size from being a preference for oviposition. To start and set up this experiment, we took 55 of each type of bean, 110 in all per petri dish and randomly mixed them in the petri dish, to eliminate any random error of the bean placement. We placed three female bean beetles and two male bean beetles in each petri dish. We had a total of three petri dishes, one for each trial. The petri dishes were then placed in constant light under the same conditions for a week. After one week, the data was then collected by counting the number of eggs on each bean by using a light microscope and this number was then recorded and compared to each bean