Phenetic distances in the Drosophila melanogaster-subgroup species and oviposition-site preference for food components

摘要

Oviposition-site preferences (O.S.P.) have been investigated in females of six sibling species of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. O.S.P. were determined for standard food components and yeast genotypes. Females of all species showed a strong preference for complete medium and avoidance of pure agar as an egg-deposition site. Ecological trees of the species on the basis of rank correlations were constructed. In ‘no-choice’ situations they agree with phylogenetic trees obtained by different means but in ‘choice’ situations they do not agree too well. All species showed a high egg production on live yeast compared with standard medium (with killed yeast) and D. erecta females demonstrated discrimination between yeast genotypes. Niche breadth calculated from survival on the sterol mutant yeasts correlated fairly well with phylogenetic trees.