Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans: so similar yet so different

During the last two decades, the two cosmopolitan species Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans have been compared with regard to numerous characteristics, ranging from their geographic distribution and ecology to their DNA polymorphism. Various traits have been compared, including morphology, physiology, sexual behavior, allozymes and other proteins, chromosomal inversions, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, transposable elements, wolbachia etc. Such comparisons reveal similarities and differences between the two species, depending on the trait considered. In most cases, the between-population variability of D. simulans is lower than that of D. melanogaster, but the two species exhibit similar levels of within-population variability. One of the main exceptions is the nucleotide polymorphism of several nuclear regions. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these observations, the evolutionary dynamics of these two species are far from being understood. How have two species sharing a common ancestor in the recent past accumulated so many differences? A brief history of comparisons of the two species, from the first in 1919 by A.H. Sturtevant, and a summary of the hypotheses proposed to explain the similarities and the differences between these species are presented and discussed.