UC Davis

The vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster is a pivotal model for invertebrate development, genetics, physiology, neuroscience, and disease. The whole family Drosophilidae, which contains over 4,400 species, offers a plethora of cases for comparative and evolutionary studies. Despite a long history of phylogenetic inference, many relationships remain unresolved among the genera, subgenera, and species groups in the Drosophilidae. To clarify these relationships, we first developed a set of new genomic markers and assembled a multilocus data set of 17 genes from 704 species of Drosophilidae. We then inferred a species tree with highly supported groups for this family. Additionally, we were able to determine the phylogenetic position of some previously unplaced species. These results establish a new framework for investigating the evolution of traits in fruit flies, as well as valuable resources for systematics.