The following questions refer to this hypothetical situation:
A female fly, full of fertilized eggs, is swept by high winds to an island far out to sea. She is the first fly to arrive on this island, and the only fly to arrive in this way. Thousands of years later, her numerous offspring occupy the island, but none of them resembles her. There are, instead, several species each of which eats only a certain type of food. None of the species can fly, for their flight wings are absent, and their balancing organs (i.e., halteres) are now used in courtship displays. The male members of each species bear modified halteres that are unique in appearance to their species. Females bear vestigial halteres. The ranges of all of the daughter species overlap.
-In each fly species, the entire body segment that gave rise to the original flight wings is missing. The mutation(s)that led to the flightless condition could have

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The loss of flight and the absence of the wings and halteres resulted from a genetic change that led to alterations in the expression of Hox genes. This is consistent with option (C) and (E). It is very unlikely that duplicating all the Hox genes in the fly's genome would lead to the loss of flight and the absence of wings and halteres. Therefore, option (A) is incorrect, and option (B) is an unlikely scenario for the observed genetic changes. Finally, as both options C and E are correct, answer E is the best choice.

The Following Questions Refer to This Hypothetical Situation