Genetic Distances Among North American, British, and West African House Fly Populations (Musca domestica L.)

Allozyme and mitochondrial gene diversities were estimated in house flies, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), sampled in Iowa, USA; Berkshire, England; and Kudang, The Gambia. Comparison of genomic allele frequencies among the three populations indicated small differences between the English and American samples but very large distances between English or American and the African. The FST statistic was 0.65 +/- 0.09 for allozymes. Pairwise FST was 0.14 between the English and the American samples; FST was 0.65 between the African population and the English and American. Mitochondrial variation in the same flies was assessed by SSCP methods which revealed nine haplotypes, none of which were shared in common. FST was 0.637 for the mitochondrial haplotypes. The research indicates greatly restricted gene flow between Africa and the temperate regions.