Drosophilidae (Order: Diptera) is a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, including the genus Drosophila, which includes fruit flies, vinegar flies, wine flies, pomace flies, grape flies, and picked fruit-flies. The best known species is Drosophila melanogaster that is used extensively for studies concerning genetics, development, physiology, ecology, behaviour, etc.

These flies may have several shades of color, including white eyes and black skin.

Diagnosis

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A recent version of the diagnostic characteristics can be found in "Drosophila: A Laboratory Handbook" by M. Ashburner, K. Golic, S. Hawley, (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005) (not reproduced here due to copyrights).

Phylogeny

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The knowledge of the phylogeny of this family is incomplete. The family is subdivided in two subfamilies, the Drosophilinae and the Steganinae. The two subfamilies do not contain a single morphological character that distinguishes them. However, the combination of characterists is sufficient to assign species correctly to the subfamilies.

Most molecular phylogeny studies focus on the genus Drosophila and related genera. Currently, there is no overview of the more than 100 articles using molecular techniques to reconstruct the phylogeny.

Drosophilidae

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