Summary

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

Drosophila bunnanda is endemic to northeastern Australia and occurs in tropical rainforests. It has been recorded between Heathlands (Queensland) and Townsville (Queensland) along the East coast and at predominantly low altitude locations. Drosophila bunnanda can be collected from the fringes of tropical rainforest as well as deep within rainforests.

Drosophila bunnanda 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

• 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

• 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