Identification of the sibling species of the Drosophila willistoni subgroup through the electrophoretical mobility of acid phosphatase-1 |
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| Authors: | A. C. L. Garcia C. Rohde G. F. Audino V. L. S. Valente V. H. Valiati |
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| Affiliation: | Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;;Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Ciências da Saúde, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | The Drosophila willistoni group consists of 23 species of which six are sibling species and belong to the D. willistoni subgroup: D. willistoni, Drosophila equinoxialis, Drosophila tropicalis, Drosophila insularis, Drosophila pavlovskiana and Drosophila paulistorum. These sibling species are abundant in the Neotropical region and can hardly be differentiated by the usual taxonomic traits. Four of them (D. willistoni, D. equinoxialis, D. tropicalis and D. paulistorum) cover extensive geographic distribution areas overlapping in places while two of them are endemic (D. insularis and D. pavlovskiana). In this study, we presented a method for the identification of five sibling species of the D. willistoni subgroup based on the allozyme variation of acid phosphatase‐1 (Acph‐1) in acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Our work showed that Acph‐1 allozyme differences can be used for species‐diagnostic characterization. This method was shown to be a more efficient tool for species identification than others because it is both quicker and produces reliable results. |
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| Keywords: | Acid phosphatase-1 sibling species Drosophila willistoni |
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