Divergence in wing morphology among sibling species of the Drosophila buzzatii cluster

摘要

The Drosophila buzzatii species cluster consists of the sibling species D. buzzatii, D. koepferae, D. serido, D. borborema, D. seriema, D. antonietae and D. gouveai, all of which breed exclusively in decaying cactus tissue and, except for D. buzzatii (a colonizing subcosmopolitan species), are endemic to South America. Using a morphometric approach and multivariate analysis of 17 wing parameters, we investigated the degree of divergence in wing morphology among the sibling species of this cluster. Significant differences were obtained among the species and discriminant analysis showed that wing morphology was sufficiently different to allow the correct classification of 98.6% of the 70 individuals analysed. The phenetic relationships among the species inferred from UPGMA cluster analysis based on squared Mahalanobis distances (D-2) were generally compatible with previously published phylogenetic relationships. These results suggest that wing morphology within D. buzzatii cluster is of phylogenetic importance.