Mitochondrial DNA evolution in the Drosophila nasuta subgroup of species

The Drosophila nasuta group consists of about 12 closely related species distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region. They are of great interest because of their evolutionary idiosyncrasies including little morphological differentiation, the ability to intercross in the laboratory often producing fertile offspring, and substantial chromosomal evolution. Studies of metric traits, reproductive isolation, and chromosomal and enzyme polymorphisms have failed to resolve the phylogeny of the species. We report the results of a survey of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction patterns of the species. The phylogeny obtained is consistent with other available information and suggests that D. albomicans may represent the ancestral lineage of the group. The amount of polymorphism in local populations (pi = 1.0% per site) is within the typical range observed in other animals, including Drosophila. The degree of differentiation between species is, however, low: the origin of the group is tentatively dated about 6-8 million years ago. This study confirms the usefulness of mtDNA restriction patterns for ascertaining the phylogeny of closely related species.