Genetic distances among North American, British, and west African house fly populations (Musca domestica L.)

Allozyme and mitochondrial gene diversities were estimated in house flies M usca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), sampled ira Iowa, USA; Berkshire, En gland; and Kudang, The Gambia. Comparison of genomic allele frequencies amo ng the three populations indicated small differences between the English an d American samples bur very large distances between English or American and the African. The F-ST statistic was 0.65 +/- 0.09 for allozymes. Pairwise F-ST was 0.14 between the English and the American samples; F-ST was 0.65 b etween the African population and the English and American. Mitochondrial v ariation in the same flies was assessed bf SSCP methods which revealed nine haplotypes, none of which were shared in common. F-ST was 0.637 for the mi tochondrial haplotypes. The research indicates greatly restricted gene flow between Africa and the temperate regions.