Adaptedness of five closely related strains of Drosophila to media containing molasses or fructose

Abstract

Relative performance of morphologically indistinguishable and phylogenetically closely related forms of Drosophila was assessed in two different media. The flies performed better in media with molasses than in media with fructose. There were significant differences in the ability of these strains to exploit a similar sugar resource suggesting differences in the adaptedness of these forms. The implications of these findings are discussed.