Drosophila (Invertebrate types)

The history of biological investigation certain animals have contributed much more to our knowledge of the subject than have others. This book concerned with just such a group-the flies of the genus Drosophila.arly work with Drosophila centred around one particular species- D. melanogaster. Later studies made use of a wider range of species. In particular, members of the "obscura" group of Drosophila have been examined widely both in Europe and the United States. In writing this book it was my aim to provide a brief yet wide-ranging account of the biology of the fruit fly Drosophila. I hope it will prove useful to students and staff in sixth forms, colleges, and universities where these flies are cultured and studied. Although I have attempted to deal with most aspects of Drosophila biology, the book is somewhat biased towards ecology and genetics because these are the two fields in which I am most interested. Previous texts have relied largely upon examples from work carried out in the United States. In this book I have tried to redress the balance a little by referring to as much European information as possible. I have included a key to the more common British species which, unlike many other keys to the genus, uses body coloration and pattern extensively. This has been possible because of the many excellent colour plates and line drawings created by Hilary Burn, to whom I am most grateful.