The effect of temperature on the life cycle of Drosophila acutilabella

This is a study of the rate of development of the fly, Drosophila acutilabelle, Stalker (1953), at three temperatures, 22°, 25°, and 28°C. It is part of a larger project testing the hypothesis that stenothermal species (those restricted to a narrow temperature range) are more sensitive than eurythermal species, such a the cosmopolitan D. melanogaster and D. hydei (those able to live over a broad temperature range) to the effects of temperature during development. It has been suggested that eurythermal species have a lower Q10 of development. The species used in this study is considered to be stenothermal because it is limited in distribution to Florida, Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica, which are regions of relatively warm temperature with little seasonal change