Evidence for Initiation of Post-Zygotic Reproductive Isolation between Drosophila ananassae and D. pallidosa as Indicated by Reduction in the Fertility of Hybrid Males

There are several barriers to preclude the gene flow between diverging populations. On the basis of their temporal nature, these can be broadly categorized into two forms- pre- and post-zygotic. Post-zygotic reproductive isolation can manifest in the form of reductions in hybrid fertility. Keeping this fact in view, in the present study, we studied sterility in hybrids of D. ananassae and D. pallidosa. Surprisingly a distinguishable pattern of infertility was found in the hybrids. This pattern, referred to as Haldane’s rule, is often observed in hybrids of recently diverged populations or species. Reduction in the fertility of hybrids provides the clue of incipient kind of post-zygotic reproductive isolation in these two sibling species. This is the first report of hybrid sterility in this species pair. However, hybrid sterility is not very prominent especially when compared to that of other species pairs with the similar divergence time. Thus, on the basis of our results, we conclude that either sexual isolation between these sibling species is sufficient and does not require the aid of post-zygotic isolation to preclude gene flow or rate of divergence between D. ananassae and D. pallidosa is very slow in comparison to other species pair or even races of some species.