The examination of phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of the nervous system, such as behavior and neuroanatomy, can be utilized as a means to assess speciation. Recent studies have proposed a fundamental tradeoff between two sensory organs, the eye and the antenna. However, the identification of ecological mechanisms for this observed tradeoff have not been firmly established. Our current study examines several monophyletic species within the obscura group, and asserts that despite their close relatedness and overlapping ecology, they deviate strongly in both visual and olfactory investment. We contend that both courtship and microhabitat preferences support the observed inverse variation in these sensory traits. Here, this variation in visual and olfactory investment seems to provide relaxed competition, a process by which similar species can use a shared environment differently and in ways that help them coexist. Moreover, that behavioral separation according to light gradients occurs first, and subsequently, courtship deviations arise.

中文翻译：

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通过果蝇的生态位划分，不同的感官投资反映了潜在的物种形成

对神经系统的系统发育和表型特征（如行为和神经解剖学）的检查可用作评估物种形成的手段。最近的研究提出了两个感觉器官（眼睛和天线）之间的基本权衡。然而，尚未确定这种观察到的权衡的生态机制。我们目前的研究检查了 obscura 组内的几个单系物种，并断言尽管它们有着密切的亲缘关系和重叠的生态，但它们在视觉和嗅觉投资方面都有很大的偏差。我们认为求爱和小栖息地偏好都支持观察到的这些感官特征的反向变化。在这里，视觉和嗅觉投资的这种变化似乎提供了轻松的竞争，一个过程，通过这个过程，相似的物种可以不同地使用共享环境，并以帮助它们共存的方式。此外，根据光梯度的行为分离首先发生，随后出现求偶偏差。