Evolution Of Fruit Flies Revealed In Three New Species

A fruit fly species, Acanthiophilus, is known to infest plants in Africa, the Canary Islands, Europe, and Asia. While some of these individuals act as biological control agents, or natural predators, others seriously threaten economically important crops. Researchers took a closer look at evolutionary relationships between Acanthiophilus individuals to get a better idea of which turn out to be helpful or harmful.

For example, the safflower fly, A. helianthi, is one of the fruit flies from the Acanthiophilus genus that act as a pest. They are known to cause significant damage to safflowers in Europe and the Middle East.

In addition to revising the Acanthiophilus family tree, the researchers also discovered three news species, which they have identified as A. minor, A. summissus, and A. unicus, according to a news release.

"The revision of Acanthiophilus is a part of a bigger project, which is a revision of both Acanthiophilus and the fruit fly genus Tephritomyia," Dr. Elizabeth Morgulis, one of the study co-authors, said in the release. "When we began our research, our hypothesis was that Acanthiophilus and Tephritomyia form a monophyletic group (a group of organisms that forms a clade). Based on our previous knowledge, some of the species that were assigned to Acanthiophilus actually belonged to other genera, and we also recognized three undescribed species of Acanthiophilus. These data led us to revise the genus Acanthiophilus." 

This helps researchers better understand the evolutionary history of Acanthiophilus and the species' widespread distribution.

"What is needed is a larger-scale cladistic (common ancestor) analysis and a molecular phylogenetic analysis, which will include Acanthiophilus and related genera, and which can enhance our understanding of the phylogeny of this group as a whole,"  Morgulis said in a statement. "It will also be important to find and verify the status of additional host plants, and to search for additional Acanthiophilus species, which no doubt exist." 

Understanding the variations among fruit flies will help with managing pests in the future and protecting valuable crops. Their findings were recently published in the journal Annals of the Entomological Society of America.  

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