Studies on Biodiversity Promotion Mechanism of Drosophilids in the East Asian Region

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Drosophilids are the insects most extensively studied in the field of evolutionary genetics. The East Asian region is endowed with the highest level of bio-diversity in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, and therefore, of crucial importance in investigating the evolutionary history and mechanism of speciation in drosophilids.Until 1970's, drosophilid fauna in the continental Asian region was poorly known. However, since early 1980's, extensive surveys have been made under international cooperation among scientists from Japan, China, and Russia, and have brought about a considerable amount of knowledge on the drosophilid faunas in the continental regions of China, Far East Russia, and East Siberia. The results obtained from these surveys not only deserve the revision of phylogeny and taxonomy of this family but also have revealed many new species including those that are useful in investigating mechanisms of speciation.This project aims to develop a new cooperative study on the evolutionary biology of drosophilids in the South Asian region. Specialists are expected to participate in the project to study their own or cooperative research themes of evolutionary interests such as taxonomy, phylogeny, and mechanisms of speciation. During the term of project (2000-2002), field surveys at many nature reserves in southeastern China were performed. As a result, more than 40 known species were added to the Chinese faunal list and specimens of more than 800 questionable or new species were collected. Efforts of the description of new species were made focusing mainly the subfamily Steganinae. By now, a total of 56 species of the subfamily were described and they provided invaluable information for understanding the evolution of Drosophilids in southeastern Asia and the mechanisms by which the diversity has been created.