Abstract
Natural light gradients within a habitat may have helped form new fly species that have differing preferences for light.
Highlights
N ew species arise when populations of the same species become so different that they no longer or rarely interbreed
D. suboscura males seem to rely on visual displays to attract females, for example by ‘showing-off’ their wings, whereas D. pseudoobscura males only approach females from the back, while singing by vibrating their wings (Figure 1C)
This is consistent with previous work which showed that while D. pseudoobscura can mate successfully in the dark, D. suboscura requires light (Wallace and Dobzhansky, 1946)
Summary
N ew species arise when populations of the same species become so different that they no longer or rarely interbreed. These species are closely related and known to have large differences in the relative size of their eyes and antennae, but do not usually share the same habitat and are commonly found in Europe and North America respectively (Figure 1). They found that the larger eyes of D. subobscura reflect an increase in the number of ommatidia, rather than an increase in the size of each ommatidium, which suggests this species might have enhanced visual acuity (Figure 1B).
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