Start , Once in the tree, click on any red text to navigate. Looking for a specific species?  Click here!

The tree graphics are large; please take this time to expand your navagator's window to its MAXIMUM.


This tree is eternally under construction (as is evolution)!  This tree is meant to be a qualitative guide, any quantitative information available can be seen below the tree diagrams.  Unless otherwise noted below the tree diagrams, these references have been used to create the tree:

        1) The NCBI Taxonomy homepage

        2) The Drosophila Phylogeny Hypercard Stack by Dr. William T. Starmer

In cases where pictures were obtained from the internet, each image is linked to its parent directory, so click on an image to see where it came from.  The Drosophila melanogaster image seen on the top banner was obtained from Alberts, B., D. Bray, A. Johnson, J. Lewis, M. Raff, K. Roberts, and P. Walter. "Figure 1-34." Essential Cell Biology: An Introduction to the Molecular  Biology of the Cell. New York: New York  Garland Publishing, 1998.  p.29.  In cases where the genetic history is not available, is unknown, or is unclear, all members of the phylum, group, subgroup, or complex are shown to emerge from a common node.

Another good site to look at is TaxoDros: The database of Taxonomy of Drosophilidae Compiled by Gerhard Baechli, especially for primary paper information.

E-mail comments, questions, corrections or additions to Jennifer Kirkland.


This tree was created by Jennifer Kirkland.

Special thanks to Dr. Starmer for the idea, Dr. Levis for his time and patience, and P. Preczewski and M. Ollenschleger for their help with web page design. The creation of this website was supported by Grant R01 GM38259 from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences.  The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIGMS or NIH.

Last updated: 5/25/00