Drosophila, the fly

  
Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, is a cosmopolitan holometabolous insect, that is found in all warm countries, while in cooler regions, it is established by migrants during the summer or can ovewinter in warm places. Drosophila melanogaster was introduced into the field of genetic experiments by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1909. Since then the work with this fly has been enormously expanded.

Due to the many advantages for genetic studies as
  • simple and cheap breeding
  • short life cycle
  • high number of offspring
Drosophila has turned out as one of the most important organisms for studies in the fields of
classical and molecular genetis as well as developmental biology.
"It would be not an exaggeration to say that we have learned more about the basic laws of heredity from the study of this fly than from work on all other organisms combined."
Milislav Demerec and Berwind P. Kaufmann

Table: Taxonomy of Drosophila melanogaster
rank taxon common name
  superkingdom Eukaryota eucaryotes
    kingdom   Metazoa metazoans
      phylum     Arthropoda  
        superclass        Hexapoda insects
          class          Insecta true insects
            subclass             Neoptera  
              infraclass               Endopterygota  
                order                 Diptera flies
                  suborder                   Brachycera  
                    infraorder                     Muscomorpha  
                      superfamily                       Ephydroidea  
                         family                         Drosophilidae pomace flies
                           genus                           Drosophila fruit flies
                             species                             Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly