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What's in a name? Fly world is abuzz
Proposed reorganization of Drosophila fruitfly genus might throw out its most celebrated member.
Rex Dalton
Drosophila melanogaster faces genus reassignment.
Indiana University
This is an anticipated repercussion of a decision last week by the London-based International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. It had spent more than two years debating a petition that would have protected the hallowed name while opening the way to a major reorganization of the Drosophila genus, which includes at least 1,450 species.
The commission, which oversees the naming of all species, rejected the petition, setting the stage for a likely renaming of D. melanogaster and hundreds of related species. Among biologists who study various fruitfly species to link genes to traits, the 1 April ruling was no joke.
"Oh my God," says Therese Markow, a geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, who was reached in the Sonoran Desert, where she was collecting fruitflies. Markow, who is director of the university's Drosophila Species Stock Center, added that extensive name changes could "wreak havoc" in the Drosophila literature and databases.
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui: Nature
