Offspring of Older Males are Superior in Drosophila bipectinata

in Drosophila bipectinata. Zoological Studies 51(1): 72-84. Drosophila bipectinata offspring of old- and young-aged males reared in low (LLD) and high larval densities (HLD) were employed to test a good gene model of female preference for male age classes. It was noted that with both LLD and HLD, offspring of old-aged male had significantly greater pre-adult fitness (egg-larval hatchability and larval-adult viability) and adult fitness (son’s mating success, mating latency, mating ability, progeny production, and longevity, and daughter’s mating success, fecundity, and longevity) over sons of young-aged males, which suggested that larval density did not have an effect on the inheritance of characters from parent to offspring. Among larval densities, LLD offspring performed significantly better in all traits studied than did HLD offspring. Thus, D. bipectinata females prefer old-aged males to obtain greater fitness benefits for their offspring, thereby confirming the good-gene model