| Abstrakt: |
In several arthropod groups, male genitalia is the most important feature for species identification, especially in cryptic species. Cryptic species are very common in the Drosophilagenus, and the Neotropical Drosophila willistonispecies group is a good example. This group currently includes 24 species divided into three subgroups: alagitans, bocainensisand willistoni. There are six sibling species in the willistonisubgroup – D. willistoni, D. insularis, D. tropicalis, D. equinoxialis, D. pavlovskianaand D. paulistorum, which is a species complex composed of six semispecies – Amazonian, Andean-Brazilian, Centroamerican, Interior, Orinocan and Transitional. The objective of this study was to characterize male genitalia of the willistonisubgroup, including the D. paulistorumspecies complex, using scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. We also tried to contribute to the identification of these cryptic species and to add some comments about evolutionary history, based on male genitalia characters. Despite being cryptic species, some differences were found among the siblings, including the Drosophila paulistorumsemispecies. |
