Male sterility thermal thresholds in Drosophila: D. simulans appears more cold-adapted than its sibling D. melanogaster

Numerous different criteria may be used for analysing species thermal adaptation. We compared male sterility thresholds in the two most investigated cosmopolitan siblings, D. melanogaster and D. simulans. A survey of various populations from Europe and North Africa evidenced consistent differences between the two species, and a detailed analysis was made on flies from Marrakech. Sharp sterility thresholds were observed in both species but at different temperatures: D. simulans appeared more tolerant to cold than its sibling (difference 1°C) but more sensitive to heat (difference 1.5°C). When transferred to an optimum temperature of 21°C, D. simulans males, sterilized by a low temperature, recovered more rapidly than males of D. melanogaster; the reverse was true on the high temperature side. The analysis of progeny number also revealed the better tolerance of D. simulans males to cold but a lesser tolerance to heat. From these observations, we might expect that D. simulans should be more successful in cold temperate countries than its sibling, while ecological observations point to the contrary. Our data clearly show the difficulty of comparing ecophysiological data to field observations, and also the need of extensive comparative life history studies in closely related species.