Genetic analysis of color dimorphism in the Drosophila montium subgroup.

Abstract

Four Drosophila species, D. baimaii, D. bicornuta, D, burlai and D, truncata, belonging to the montium species subgroup, were examined for the abdominal tergite coloration. Females show dimorphsim, light or dark, in coloration. In all species examined, the color dimorphism is regulated by two alleles of a single autosomal locus and the dark allele is dominant. Males of the first three species show monomorphic tergite coloration, either light or dark, while males of the fourth species, D. truncata, show the light/dark color dimorphism. Here again it is controlled by two alleles of a single autosomal gene and the dark allele is dominant.