Summary

Drosophila birchii is a member of the melanogaster species group (montium subgroup) within the Sophophora subgenus.

Drosophila birchii is restricted to rainforest habitats in northern Australia and Melanesia. In Australia it has been recorded between Bamaga (Queensland) and Yeppoon (Queensland) along the East coast. Drosophila birchii can be collected from the fringes of tropical rainforest as well as deep within rainforests.

Drosophila birchii has been used as a model for testing evolutionary hypotheses about species borders, sexual selection and climate adaptation.

The genome of this species is in the process of being sequenced as part of the "Adaptation to climate change research project", which is funded by a Science & Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) Research grant.

Related entries

Publication Citations

• Griffiths, J. A., Schiffer, M., and Hoffmann, A. A., 'Clinal variation and laboratory adaptation in the rainforest species Drosophila birchii for stress resistance, wing size, wing shape and development time', Journal of Evolutionary Biology, vol. 18, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 213-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2004.00782.x. Details
• Schiffer, Michele, and McEvey, Shane F., 'Drosophila bunnanda - a new species from northern Australia with notes on other Australian members of the montium subgroup (Diptera: Drosophilidae)', Zootaxa, no. 1333, 2006, pp. 1-23. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01333p023f.pdf. Details

See also

• Hoffmann, A. A., Hallas, R., Dean, J. A., and Schiffer, M., 'Low potential for climatic stress adaptation in a rainforest Drosophila species', Science, vol. 301, 2003, pp. 100-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1084296. Details
• Kellermann, V.M. Hoffmann, A.A. Sgrò, C.M., 'Hsp90 Inhibition and the Expression of Phenotypic Variability in Rainforest Species Drosophila birchii', Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 92, 2007, pp. 457-465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00875.x. Details
• Schiffer, M., Carew, M. E. and Hoffmann, A. A., 'Molecular, morphological and behavioural data reveal the presence of a cryptic species in the widely studied Drosophila serrata species complex', Journal of Evolutionary Biology, vol. 17, no. 2, Blackwell Science, 2004, pp. 430-442. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00657.x. Details
• Schiffer, M., Gilchrist, A. S., and Hoffmann, A. A., 'The contrasting genetic architecture of wing size, viability, and development time in a rainforest species and its more widely distributed relative', Evolution, vol. 60, no. 1, The Company of Biologists Ltd, 2006, pp. 106-114. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16568636. Details
• Schiffer, M., Kennington, W.J., Hoffmann, A. A. and Blacket, M. J., 'Lack of genetic structure among ecologically adapted populations of an Australian rainforest Drosophila species as indicated by microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA sequences', Molecular Ecology, vol. 16, no. 8, 2007, pp. 1687-1700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03200.x. Details
• van Heerwaarden, B., Kellermann, V., Schiffer, M., Blacket, M., Sgrò, C. M., and Hoffmann, A. A., 'Testing evolutionary hypotheses about species borders: patterns of genetic variation towards the southern borders of two rainforest Drosophila and a related habitat generalist', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 276, no. 1661, 2009, pp. 1517-1526. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1288. Details