''Drosophila albomicans'' is a species of

vinegar fly ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with Ch ...

in the family

Drosophilidae The Drosophilidae are a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes species called fruit flies, although they are more accurately referred to as vinegar or pomace flies. Another distantly related family of flies, Tephritidae, are true f ...

. ''Drosophila albomicans'' is a member of the Immigrans-tripunctata radiation of the subgenus

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

. The ''D. albomicans'' genome was first sequenced in 2012 to study the evolution of novel sex chromosomes, a characteristic this species is best known for. One commonly accepted definition of the

biological species concept The species problem is the set of questions that arises when biologists attempt to define what a species is. Such a definition is called a species concept; there are at least 26 recognized species concepts. A species concept that works well for se ...

is that individuals or populations are members of different species if they are incapable of successful interbreeding. While ''D. albomicans'' and ''

Drosophila nasuta ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of fly, flies, belonging to the family (biology), family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characte ...

'' are commonly referred to as distinct species, there appears to be little to no sexual isolation between these two ''

'' species. Instead, behavioural differences appear to reproductively isolate these two species. The Immigrans species group (to which ''D. albomicans'' belongs) is related to the ''

Drosophila quinaria ''Drosophila quinaria'' is a species of fruit fly in the ''Drosophila quinaria'' species group. Most Quinaria group species feed largely on mushrooms. However ''D. quinaria'' instead eats decaying vegetative matter, a trait it evolved independen ...

'' and ''

Drosophila testacea ''Drosophila testacea'' is a member of the ''testacea'' species group of ''Drosophila''. Testacea species are specialist fruit flies that breed on the fruiting bodies of mushrooms. ''Drosophila testacea'' can be found in temperate regions of Eu ...

'' species groups. The related species ''

Drosophila immigrans ''Drosophila immigrans'' is a species of vinegar fly in the family Drosophilidae. ''Drosophila immigrans'' is a member of the Immigrans-tripunctata radiation of the subgenus Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to th ...

'' has been used in evolutionary studies to understand how viruses evolve with their hosts.

References

External links

* * albomicans Insects described in 1921 {{drosophilidae-stub

References

Further reading

External links