QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION AMONG EUROPEAN AND CHILEAN STRAINS OF DROSOPHILA-SUBOBSCURA

An analysis of the interpopulational differences observed between four European and four Chilean stocks of Drosophila subobscura, with regard to wing size, egg-to-adult development time and preadult viability, shows highly significant differences between the eight stocks irrespective of the continent from which the flies are derived. The divergence of the local populations with regard to the quantitative traits described here, supplements other evidence of interpopulational differences in mating activity, chromosomal and enzyme polymorphisms. These together indicate that the evolutionary process that promotes race formation is relatively rapid, bearing in mind that D. subobscura was detected for the first time in South America in 1978.