The evolution of cactophily in the genus Drosophila was a major ecological transition
involving over a hundred species in the Americas that acquired the capacity to cope with a …

Drosophila buzzatii and Drosophila koepferae are sibling species with marked ecological
differences related to their patterns of host exploitation. D. buzzatii is a polyphagous species …

The host-plant environment of phytophagous insects directly affects various aspects of an
insect's life cycle. Interestingly, relatively few insect groups have specialized in the …

Cactophilic Drosophila, fruit flies that feed and breed in the necrotic tissues of Cactaceae,
are excellent models to investigate adaptation to a relatively narrow spectrum of potential …

Host plant shifts in herbivorous insects often involve facing new environments that may
speed up the evolution of oviposition behavior, performance-related traits, morphology, and …

Several species of columnar cacti in the Sonoran Desert contain isoquinoline alkaloids that
are toxic to all but the resident drosophilids that feed and breed in necrotic stems …

Host shifts cause drastic consequences on fitness in cactophilic species of Drosophila. It has
been argued that changes in the nutritional values accompanying host shifts may elicit these …

Drosophila koepferae and D. buzzatii are two closely related cactophilic species inhabiting
the arid lands of southern South America. Previous studies have shown that D. buzzatii …

For plant utilizing insects, the shift to a novel host is generally accompanied by a complex
set of phenotypic adaptations. Many such adaptations arise in response to differences in …

Drosophila mettleri is a soil-breeding, cactophilic drosophilid which lives in the Sonoran
Desert. Several chemical constituents of cacti in this region have been identified as having …