Drosophila elegans

Drosophila elegans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Diptera
Family:
Drosophilidae
Genus:
Drosophila
Subgenus:
Drosophila (Sophophora)
Species:
D. elegans
Binomial name
Drosophila elegans
Bock and Wheeler, 1972[1]
Synonyms

Drosophila (Sophophora) elegans

Drosophila elegans is a flower-feeding species of fruit flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae. It is found in Taiwan and the Philippines in Asia.

It belongs to the Drosophila melanogaster species group where it forms its own subgroup. There are two morphs (brown and black) of the species. The difference is due to the percentages of 7-pentacosene and 9-pentacosene on the cuticle.[2]

As a lab model species, it requires banana-opuntia-protein food. Its genome has been sequenced in 2011.

The name was also used for a fossil (†Drosophila elegans Statz, 1940) from the Upper Oligocene of the Rott Formation in Germany.[3] The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled for the name to be conserved for the extant species by suppression of its unused senior homonym (replaced by †Drosophila statzi Ashburner and Bachli, 2006).[4][5]

Genomic information
Genome size171.268 Mb
Year of completion2011
  1. ^ The Drosophila melanogaster species group. IR Bock and MR Wheeler, Univ. Texas Publ, 1972
  2. ^ Sexual isolation and cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila elegans. K Ishii, Y Hirai, C Katagiri, MT Kimura, Heredity, 2001 PMID 11737286
  3. ^ Neue Dipteren (Brachycera et Cyclorhapha) aus dem Oberoligozän von Rott. G Statz, Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1940, 91, pages 120-174
  4. ^ OPINION 2143 (Case 3306) Drosophila elegans Bock & Wheeler, 1972 (Insecta, Diptera): specific name conserved at the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature
  5. ^ Drosophilidae (Diptera). Irina Brake and Gerhard Baechli, World Catalogue of Insects, Volume 9, 2008, page 126