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Genus of flies From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scaptomyza is a genus of vinegar flies, insects in the family Drosophilidae. As of 2022[update], there are 273 described species of Scaptomyza.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Of those, 148 are endemic to the Hawaiian archipelago. This genus is part of the species-rich lineage of Hawaiian Drosophilidae, and is the sister lineage to the endemic Hawaiian Drosophila.[7] The genus Scaptomyza is one of several nested within the paraphyletic genus Drosophila.[2]
| Scaptomyza | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Drosophilidae |
| Subfamily: | Drosophilinae |
| Genus: | Scaptomyza Hardy, 1850 |
| Diversity | |
| at least 270 species | |
Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the geographical distribution of Scaptomyza.[8] The "single Hawaiian origin" hypothesis suggests that the common ancestor of Scaptomyza and Hawaiian Drosophila colonized Hawaii once, followed by several migrations to the mainland within Scaptomyza.[9][10] Alternatively, the "multiple Hawaiian origins" hypothesis suggests that the current distribution is the result of multiple colonization events (once for Hawaiian Drosophila and multiple times in Scaptomyza).[8]
One member of the genus in particular, S. flava, is studied as a laboratory model organism for herbivory and the evolution of plant-insect interactions.[11]
One specimen, assigned to the species S. dominicana, has been described from Dominican amber that is estimated to have been deposited at least 23 million years ago.[12]
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