Drosophilidae is a diverse, cosmopolitan In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is a state of being found almost anywhere around the world. A cosmopolitan biological category, e.g. genus, may be called a cosmopolite family What does and does not belong to each family is determined by a taxonomist. Similarly for the question if a particular family should be recognized at all. Often there is no exact agreement, with different taxonomists each taking a different position. There are no hard rules that a taxonomist needs to follow in describing or recognizing a family of flies True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax, including the genus In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank (a taxon) used in the classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender", cognate with Greek: γένος – genos, "race, stock, kin" Drosophila, which includes fruit flies. The best known species is Drosophila melanogaster, which is used extensively for studies concerning genetics Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of, development, physiology Physiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology. In physiology, the scientific method is applied to determine how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical function that they have in a living system. The word physiology is from Ancient Greek: φύσις, ecology Ecology is the scientific study of the distributions, abundance and relations of organisms and their interactions with the environment. Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations, plant and animal communities and ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization and behaviour Behavior, or behaviour , refers to the actions of a system or organism , usually in relation to its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or. The fruit fly is mostly composed of post-mitotic cells, has a very short lifespan, and shows gradual ageing. As in other species, temperature influences the life history of the animal. Several genes have been identified whose manipulation extends the lifespan of these animals.
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Economic significance
Generally, drosophilids are considered nuisance flies rather than pests, since most species breed in rotting material. Zaprionus indianus Gupta is unusual among Drosophilidae species in being a serious, primary pest of at least one commercial fruit, figs Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The so-called Common Fig (F. carica) is a temperate species from the Middle East and in Brazil.[1] Another species, Drosophila suzukii, infests thin-skinned fruit such a raspberries The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial. The name originally referred to the European species Rubus idaeus , and is still used as its standard English name and cherries The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus. It is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium and can be a serious agricultural pest.[2] Drosophila repleta larvae inhabit drains and spread bacteria.
Identification
The diagnostic characters for Drosophilidae include the presence of an incomplete subcostal vein The Comstock-Needham system is a naming system for insect wing veins, devised by John Comstock and George Needham in 1898. It was an important step in showing the homology of all insect wings. This system was based on Needham's pretracheation theory that was later discredited by Frederic Charles Fraser in 1938, two breaks in the costal vein, and a small anal cell in the wing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments , and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments. Insect wings do not constitute appendages in technical parlance,; convergent postocellar bristles; and usually three frontal bristles on each side of the head, one directed forward and the other two directed rearward. More extensive identification characteristics can be found in "Drosophila: A Guide to Species Identification and Use" by Therese A. Markow and Patrick O'Grady, (Academic Press, 2005) ISBN 0124730523 or "Drosophila: A Laboratory Handbook" by M. Ashburner, K. Golic, S. Hawley, (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005).
Phylogeny
The knowledge of the phylogeny In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices. The term phylogenetics is of Greek origin from the terms phyle/phylon (φυλή/φῦλον), meaning "tribe, race," and genetikos (γενετικός of this family is incomplete. The family is subdivided in two subfamilies, the Drosophilinae The Drosophilinae are the largest subfamily in the Drosophilidae. The other subfamily is the Steganinae and the Steganinae The Steganinae Hendel, 1917, is the smaller of two subfamilies in the fruit fly family Drosophilidae. The other subfamily is the Drosophilinae. The two subfamilies do not contain a single morphological character that distinguishes them. However, the combination of characteristics is sufficient to assign species correctly to the subfamilies.
Most molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics, also known as molecular systematics, is the use of the structure of molecules to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree studies focus on the genus In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank (a taxon) used in the classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender", cognate with Greek: γένος – genos, "race, stock, kin" Drosophila and related genera. Recently, an overview of the more than 100 articles using molecular techniques has been published [3]
Gallery
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Close-up of fruit fly proboscis |
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External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Drosophilidae |
References
- ^ "Pest Alerts - Zaprionus indianus Gupta, DPI". Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/zaprionusindianus.html. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
- ^ Drosophila suzukii Center of Invasive Species Research
- ^ van der Linde, Kim; Houle, David (2008) A supertree analysis and literature review of the genus Drosophila and closely related genera (Diptera, Drosophilidae). Insect Systematics & Evolution 39(3): 241-267
Categories: Drosophilidae Drosophilidae are a large family of considerable scientific interest. The best know species is Drosophila melanogaster | Insect families
Helsingin Sanomat
... the Collection Manager of the Finnish Museum of Natural History, says that this yellow-brown, red-eyed fly is a species in the family Drosophilidae . ...
