Figure 1.

Illustrations of the equipment and tools

(A) A vial with a sponge plug for rearing multiple flies. It contains 20 mL of food (yellow) and has a radius of 25 mm and a height of 100 mm.

(B) An isolation tube with a sponge plug, which is a 2 mL Eppendorf tube filled with 0.5 mL of food (yellow).

(C) The empty courtship chamber has an internal dimension with a radius of 7 mm and a height of 7 mm.

(D) An aspirator for transferring unanesthetized flies. It consists of a 1 mL pipette tip (blue) for holding flies, a hose (gray), and a clean connecter (brown) that is held in the mouth. The connections are plugged with cotton to prevent the inhalation of flies.

(E) An enlarged view of the trimmed pipette tip in the aspirator. Its opening is large enough for a female fly to pass through.

(F) A custom-made acrylic sheet with a hole that is the same size as the trimmed pipette tip for transferring unanesthetized flies from the pipette tip into a courtship chamber.