RACE FORMATION, SPECIATION, AND INTROGRESSION WITHIN DROSOPHILA SIMULANS, D. MAURITIANA, AND D. SECHELLIA INFERRED FROM MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSIS.

Mitochondrial DNA cleavage maps from three chromosomally homosequential species Drosophila simulans, D. mauritiana, and D. sechellia, were established for 12 restriction enzymes. One isofemale strain was studied in D. sechellia (se), 13 in D. simulans, and 17 in D. mauritiana: in the last two species, respectively, three (siI, II, and III) and two (maI and II) cleavage morphs were found. The evolutionary relationships based on mtDNA cleavage map comparisons show that the maI and se mtDNAs are internal branches of the phylogenetic tree of the D. simulans mtDNA. D. mauritiana and D. sechellia species appear to be derived from a population of D. simulans which carried an ancestral form of the current siI mtDNA type. In addition, two cleavage morphs (siIII [only present in D. simulans from Madagascar] and maI) appeared to be identical, although found in different species. We present a speculative interpretation of data on biogeography and hybridization which is consistent with the hypothesis of a recent introgression of mitochondrial DNA of D. simulans from Madagascar into D. mauritiana. © 1986 The Society for the Study of Evolution.