Cédric Finet, Victoria A Kassner, Antonio B Carvalho, Henry Chung, Jonathan P Day, Stephanie Day, Emily K Delaney, Francine C De Ré, Héloïse D Dufour, Eduardo Dupim, Hiroyuki F Izumitani, Thaísa B Gautério, Jessa Justen, Toru Katoh, Artyom Kopp, Shigeyuki Koshikawa, Ben Longdon, Elgion L Loreto, Maria D S Nunes, Komal K B Raja, Mark Rebeiz, Michael G Ritchie, Gayane Saakyan, Tanya Sneddon, Machiko Teramoto, Venera Tyukmaeva, Thyago Vanderlinde, Emily E Wey, Thomas Werner, Thomas M Williams, Lizandra J Robe, Masanori J Toda, Ferdinand Marlétaz

https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab179

Abstract

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.