Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 10, 362-374, Copyright © 1993 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
RH Thomas and JA Hunt
Grimaldi's recent cladistic classification of genera in the family
Drosophilidae, based on adult morphological characters, is evaluated for
those taxa for which alcohol dehydrogenase DNA sequences are also
available. These data allow us to look at relationships of the Drosophila
subgenera Sophophora and Drosophila with the Hawaiian Drosophila (Idiomyia)
and with Scaptomyza, when Scaptodrosophila is used as an outgroup. The
molecular data give strong support for the broad relationships hypothesized
by Throckmorton, who contended that the subgenus Sophophora is a sister
group to the remaining ingroup taxa. The Drosophila subgenus
Engiscaptomyza, which Throckmorton regarded as intermediate between the
Idiomyia (Hawaiian Drosophila) and Scaptomyza, is shown to be much more
closely allied with Scaptomyza, in agreement with Grimaldi's results from
adult morphology. The Hawaiian taxa, both Idiomyia and Scaptomyza, are
firmly located as a sister group to the subgenus Drosophila, and these in
turn all form a sister group to the subgenus Sophophora. Grimaldi's
classification of these taxa is quite different and places the Hawaiian
Drosophila (Idiomyia) as sister group to the remaining ingroup taxa
(Scaptomyza and the subgenera Sophophora and Drosophila). Our results show
that Grimaldi's new classification of these taxa results in paraphyletic
groups, just as does the traditional classification under Throckmorton's
interpretation of relationships. Additional data are required to produce a
robust classification of this huge paraphyletic genus.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Phylogenetic relationships in Drosophila: a conflict between molecular and morphological data
Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
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