Abstract

ORDONEZ, MARINA; ARENAS, ANGÉLICA; BETANCOURT, LUZ ANGELA  and  DE POLANCO, MARÍA MAGDALENA. Electrophoretic analysis of the evolutionary relations in Drosophila species (Diptera: Drosophilidae) of the cluster martensis: D. martensis, D.starmeri and D. uniseta. Rev. Colomb. Entomol. [online]. 2004, vol.30, n.1, pp.65-74. ISSN 0120-0488.

Starch gel electrophoresis was used to elucídate genetic variation at 12 isoenzyme loci among six allopatric Colombian populations of the cluster martensis (D. martensis, D. starmeri and D. uniseta), from Santa Marta (Magdalena Department), Camarones (Guajira Department) and from the Tatacoa desert (Huila Department). This estimation was compared to a phylogenetically related (D. buzzatii) and distant (D. melanogaster) species. The enzymatic divergences were inferred from genetic distantes and the results allowed the identification of six levéis of taxonomic divergence: Local population (D = 0,1031), subraces (D = 0,1412), subspecies or races (D = 0,1870), species of a same cluster (D = 0,7907), species of different clusters (D = 1,0055) and species from different groups (D = 1,4327). Through this preliminary study, the utility of electrophoretic data as estimators of evolutionary divergence was confirmed and a possible example of allopatric speciation is suggested.

Keywords : Allopatric speciation; Allozyme variability; Levéis of divergence; Siblings.