Mating Behavior and Male Courtship Sounds in the Drosophila Virilis Group

Abstract

The species of the Drosophila virilis group have now been studied by many scientists for about sixty years. Throckmorton (1982) has recently written a thorough review on the research concerning this group. The D. virilis group comprises at least thirteen species or subspecies, which have a distribution covering both Palearctic and Nearctic life zones. According to the previous studies on the karyotypes, gene arrangements, and protein variants of the species Throckmorton divides the group into two phylads. The virilis phylad consists of the following species or subspecies: D. americana americana Spencer, D. americana texana Patterson, Stone and Griffen, D. novamexicana Patterson, D. lummei Hackman, and D. virilis Sturtevant. On the basis of the gene arrangements Throckmorton has concluded that the species have diverged a long time ago, and none of them have evolved directly from another living form. Most of the species of the virilis phylad can be crossed with each other to produce hybrids.