Biochemical phylogeny of the eight species in the <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> subgroup, including <i>D. sechellia</i> and <i>D. orena</i>

Abstract

Summary The phylogenetic relationships of the eight species of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup are examined on the basis of genetic variation at 33 putative enzyme loci. Values of Nei's genetic distance ( ds ) range from 0·28 to 1·74. D. sechellia appears closer to D. simulans than to D. mauritiana , the two former being the most closely related. D. orena is quite distantly related to D. erecta ( ds = 1). Genetic differentiation supports the existence of three main lineages within the melanogaster subgroup and the yakuba-teissieri pair appears to be closer to the melanogaster lineage than to the erecta-orena one. Inferences of the times of species divergence from allozyme data are made and their agreement to other estimates is discussed.