Drosophila (Sophophora)

Schiffer, Michele & Mcevey, Shane F., 2006, Drosophila bunnanda — a new species from northern Australia with notes on other Australian members of the montium subgroup (Diptera: Drosophilidae), Zootaxa 1333, pp. 1-23 : 4

Drosophila (Sophophora) sp. cf. jambulina Parshad & Paika

Drosophila sp. cf. jambulina Parshad & Paika (Bock 1977, p. 269) Drosophila jambulina Parshad & Paika, 1964 , p. 240 (holotype location unknown; type locality India).

Drosophila jambulina was described from several localities in India; its known distribution is apparently restricted to India (Watanabe et al. 1982). Reports of it occurring in Cambodia ( Bock & Wheeler 1972), Thailand (Baimai pers. comm. to Bock 1977) and Taiwan ( Wheeler 1981) are thrown into doubt after a wide ranging comparative study of many Indian strains of D. jambulina , the Indian sibling species D. punjabiensis Parshad & Paika 1964 , and a number of Texas University stocks that were used in earlier studies (loc. cit.).

The Australian species is very similar to D. jambulina in external morphology, the two are virtually inseparable (Bock 1977). For the following zoogeographical and molecular reasons we agree with Bock and consider the Australian species to be an additional species in the complex. Apart from the unusually disjunct distribution ( India and northern Australia with a notable absence at intermediate locations), molecular analysis using a segment of the mitochondrial ND5 gene (Schiffer unpublished data) indicates significant genetic differentiation between D. jambulina from Rohtak, India (ex culture maintained by Jean David, BGE CNRS France) and D. sp. cf. jambulina specimens from Cooktown, Cairns, Lake Barrine, Mt Elliot and Mackay, Queensland (ex culture CM1/50 [Lake Barrine] maintained by Schiffer, La Trobe University, voucher specimens in AM K119237–119305).

Distribution ( Fig. 17 ). From Cooktown (15.5°S), northern Queensland, to Brunswick Heads (28.5°S), northern New South Wales (Bock 1977; van Klinken 1996; also see Appendix).

Figures

FIGURES 14 – 20. Distribution maps of Drosophila montium subgroup species in the Australasian Region. (14) Drosophila dominicana. (15) Drosophila montium subgroup species undissected and unclassified. (16) Drosophila kikkawai. (17) Drosophila sp. cf. jambulina. (18) Drosophila bunnanda (19) Drosophila birchii. (20) Drosophila serrata.