Drosophila sechellia

Drosophila sechellia is a species of fruit fly, used in lab studies of speciation because it can mate with Drosophila simulans.

Drosophila sechellia is endemic to (some of) the Seychelles, and was one of 12 fruit fly genomes sequenced for a large comparative study. Around roughly 250,000-500,000 years ago, the D. Sechellia originated with the youngest of its subgroup, melanogaster, which is also known as the common fruit fly. D. sechellia, is native to the tropical Seychelles archipelago, which is in the Indian Ocean, was discovered in 1980. This organism is a specialized species because it specifically feeds and hosts on Morinda fruit in the Seychelles. However, this limits its reproductive processes, therefore lowering the rate of egg production.