Hirtodrosophila mycetophaga is a fairly large drosophilid fly, with a mean length of 4.0–4.5 mm.

In addition to these physical displays, flies emit specific sounds in order to attract and ultimately copulate with females.

[2] The fly is primarily located in Australian rainforests, from eastern Victoria to south-central Queensland.

[4] Hirtodrosophila mycetophaga typically prefers habitats that are naturally wet and humid, as the fly is very susceptible to desiccation.

[2] The fly's courtship and mating territory is the horizontal underside of the bracket fungus, Ganoderma applanatum.

[2] When females visit the lek, they typically appear on the edges and stay for shorter periods of time than males do.

[7] The general likelihood that a fungus will be occupied increases with its surface area; larger bracket fungi have more flies.

Females do not occupy larger bracket fungi in response to the area itself, but the fact that more males are present on them.

[8] In addition, researchers believe that the presence of optimal breeding sites or specific resources for females does not dictate where aggregations were formed.

[2] H. mycetophaga eggs are easily noticeable and are held up by four long filaments that emerge from the substrate.

[2] Courtship behaviors observed in both female and male H. mycetophaga are similar to those found in other flies of the same genus.

[2] The presence of female wing display in this species is noteworthy; previously, this had only been noted in the "lesbian" mutant phenotype of D.

[2] Males and females both also showed waxing behavior, which entails the rapid raising and lowering of wings alternately.

[2] The sine song has been shown to increase a female's sexual activity as well as receptivity, and decreases the likelihood that she will attempt to resist the mating.

[10] There are other fly species that have evolved to display similar songs during different combinations of these behaviors.

[11] There are differences across species in the number of pulses present within one given round of a song, and the length of the inter-pulse interval also varies.

The ideal free distribution has been tested with leks, and rejected as each male does not have an equal opportunity to mate.

[12] Leks may have evolved away from the source of food because sexual displays would not be easily visible in the poorly-lit forest.

[2] In the Hawaiian Drosophila however, leks occur on the smooth surface of a fern leaf instead of the underside of a bracket fungus.

[11] Female-initiated models of lekking suggest that male aggregations are primarily shaped by female mate choice.

On the other hand, male-initiated models suggest that female choice does not actively influence male dispersion or settlement patterns.

[12] However, male-initiated leks fall in line with the ideal free distribution model and the theory has therefore been rejected.

This male-initiated model suggests that male aggregations are concentrated based on areas of high female presence.

[12] Previous observations have shown that the presence of exudates (fluid emerging from the inside of an organism through some sort of opening), which would attract females, does not influence where displays occur.

[12] The interference model may more accurately explain behavior in this species, as evidence of aggressive encounters within the lek has been found.

[12] Leks have previously been used to explain how species avoid predation risks associated with displaying at these aggregation sites.

[13] One study suggests instead that the flies simply use the bracket fungi as a breeding and food source.

[13] The authors of this paper confirm that collections of flies are present in male aggregations on the white areas of bracket fungi.

[6] Though not necessarily specific to H. mycetophaga, the species has been included in general reports that Drosophila can be used as a biological indicator of the health of an ecosystem or environment, particularly in recent times of climate change.

[16] Studies indicate that extinctions and re-appearances of rare rain forest species, like H. mycetophaga, follow increases under periods of environmental stress.