Drosophilinae

The Drosophilinae are the largest subfamily in the Drosophilidae. The other subfamily is the Steganinae.

A huge amount of research has shown the way the fly has evolved many species as it spread across the world.

The genus Drosophila is paraphyletic because several genera (with many species), such as Zaprionus, Scaptomyza and Lordiphosa, are within the genus. What this means is that they have evolved from more standard Drosophila over time. This is pretty well supported by the evidence of their genome.Beverley S.M. & A.C. Wilson 1984. Molecular evolution in Drosophila and the higher Diptera.  II.  A time scale for fly evolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution 21:  1-13.Da Lage J.-L. and others 2007.  A phylogeny of Drosophilidae using the Amyrel gene:  questioning the Drosophila melanogaster species-group boundaries.  Journal of Zoological Systematics and      Evolutionary Research  45(1):  47-63.Davis T; J. Kurihara, E. Yoshino & D. Yamamoto 2000. Genomic      organisation of the neural sex determination gene fruitless (fru) in the  Hawaiian species Drosophila silvestris and the conservation of the fru BTB protein-protein-binding domain throughout evolution.  Hereditas  132(1):  67-78.DeSalle R. 1992.  The phylogenetic relationships of flies      in the family Drosophilidae deduced from mtDNA sequences.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution  1: 31-40.Gailey D.A; S.K. Ho; S. Ohshima J.H; Liu M; Eyassu M; A. Washington; D. Yamamoto & T. Davis 2000.  A phylogeny of the Drosophilidae using the sex-behaviour gene fruitless.  Hereditas  133(1):  81-83.Hu Y.G. & M.J. Toda 2001. Polyphyly of Lordiphosa and its relationships in Drosophilinae (Diptera:  Drosophilidae). Systematic      Entomology 26(1): 15-31.Hu Y.-G. & M.J. Toda 2002. Cladistic analysis of the genus Dichaetophora Duda (Diptera:      Drosophilidae) and a revised classification. Insect      Systematics and Evolution  33: 91-102.Kambysellis M.P., K.F. Ho, E M. Craddock, F. Piano, M.      Parisi & J. Cohen 1995.  Pattern of ecological shifts in the      diversification of Hawaiian Drosophila inferred from a molecular phylogeny. Current Biology  5(10):  1129-1139.Katoh T; K. Tamura & T. Aotsuka 2000.  Phylogenetic      position of the subgenus Lordiphosa of the genus Drosophila (Diptera:  Drosophilidae) inferred from alcohol      dehydrogenase (Adh) gene sequences. Journal of Molecular      Evolution  51(2):  122-130.Kwiatowski J. & F. J. Ayala 1999. Phylogeny of Drosophila and related genera:       conflict between molecular and anatomical analyses. Molecular      Phylogenetics and Evolution  13(2):  319-328.Kwiatowski J; M. Krawczyk M; Jaworski D; Skarecky & F.      J. Ayala 1997. Erratic evolution of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in Drosophila, Chymomyza, and Ceratitis.  Journal      of Molecular Evolution  44(1):  9-22.Kwiatowski J., D. Skarecky, K. Bailey & F.J. Ayala 1994. Phylogeny of Drosophila and related genera inferred from the nucleotide sequence of the Cu,Zn Sod gene.   Journal of Molecular Evolution  38(5):  443-454.Pélandakis, M. & M. Solignac 1993. Molecular phylogeny of Drosophila based on ribosomal RNA sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution 37(5):  525-543.Remsen J. & R. DeSalle 1998. Character congruence of multiple data      partitions and the origin of the Hawaiian Drosophilidae.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution  9(2):  225-235.Remsen, J. & P. O'Grady 2002. Phylogeny of Drosophilinae      (Diptera:  Drosophilidae), with  comments on combined analysis and character support. Molecular  Phylogenetics and Evolution  24(2): 249-264.Robe L.J., V.L.S. Valente, M. Budnik & E.L.S. Loreto 2005.  Molecular  phylogeny of the subgenus Drosophila  (Diptera, Drosophilidae) with an emphasis on Neotropical species and groups:  a nuclear versus mitochondrial gene approach.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution  36(3):  623-640Russo C.A.M., N. Takezaki & M. Nei 1995.  Molecular phylogeny and divergence times of drosophilid species.  Molecular Biology and Evolution  12(3):  391-404.Tatarenkov, A., J. Kwiatowski, D. Skarecky, E. Barrio & F.J. Ayala 1999. On the evolution of Dopa decarboxylase (Ddc) and Drosophila systematics. Journal of Molecular Evolution  48(4):  445-462.Tatarenkov A., M. Zurovcova & F.J. Ayala 2001.  Ddc and amd sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships of Drosophila.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution  20(2):  321-325.Thomas R.H. & J.A. Hunt 1993. Phylogenetic relationships in Drosophila:  a conflict between molecular and  morphological data.  Molecular Biology and Evolution  10(2):  362-374.Yassin A, Araripe LO, Capy P, Da Lage J-L, Klaczko LB, Maisonhaute C, Ogereau D and David JR 2008. Grafting the molecular phylogenetic tree with morphological branches to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the genus Zaprionus (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47:903-915.

In taxonomy, there are two ways of solving this kind of problem:
Genus Drosophila could be raised to a supergenus, or the related offshoot genera could be demoted to subgenera. 

 References 

Category:Drosophila