Latitudinal Species Diversities in Australian Endemic Drosophila

Abstract

The diversity and the number of endemic Australian Drosophila fall with increasing latitude in association with a progressive reduction in niches available or exploited. In north Queensland six collection methods all provide their own spectrum of species and represent partly or wholly separate niches; of these only one method, foliage and leaf litter sweeping, is successful in the extreme south. All of the most southerly endemics are members of the subgenus Scaptodrosophila, the remaining subgenera disappearing at various stages further north. The rare subgenus Drosophila, common elsewhere in the world, only occurs in north Queensland, while only two Hirtodrosophila and one Sophophora species are found in Victoria, compared with 18 Scaptodrosophila.