ABSTRACT
The study of the early stages of speciation can benefit from examination of differences between populations of known history that have been separated for a short time, such as a few thousands of generations. We asked whether two lines of Drosophila melanogaster that were isolated more than 40 years ago have evolved differences in life-history characters, or have begun to evolve behavioural or postzygotic isolation. One line, which is resistant to DDT, showed lower egg production and a shorter lifespan than a susceptible line. These differences are not a pleiotropic effect of resistance because they are not attributable to the chromosome that contains the resistance factors. The two lines have begun to become behaviourally isolated. Again, the isolation is not attributable to genes on the chromosome that contains resistance factors. The lines show only prezygotic isolation; there is no evidence of reduced fitness of F1 or F2 hybrids. These lines and others like them, should be excellent subjects for analyses of genetic changes that could lead to speciation.
