International Commission
on Zoological Nomenclature

"A case that challenges the name of the biologists’ favourite research subject, Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as ‘Drosophila, the fruit fly’, concluded today. The case submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), proposed that the name Drosophila melanogaster be protected as a combination, but this was not supported by the Commission. This means that the fruit fly’s name is likely to change to Sophophora melanogaster if results of a new evolutionary analysis are accepted."

(Taken from the Press Release - available as PDF below)

Links

ICZN

• History of Case 3407 listing the original Case, Comments and Opinion 

• PDF: Full Text of Opinion

News

• Economist: fly in the ointment
• Nature: A fly by any other name
• Nature: What's in a name? Fly world is abuzz
• TimesOnline: Identity crisis for fly that’s the apple of scientists’ eye
• The Australian: Row over fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster name bugs scientists
• Fox News: Fruit Fly Identity Crisis Dividing Scientists

Blogosphere

• (04/2010) Discover: Drosophila, We Hardly Knew Ye

• (04/2010) Catalogue of Organisms: In Which, Despite Not Being The Crowd Favourite, Drosophila funebris Holds D. melanogaster Down and Kicks It Repeatedly in the Teeth
  
  
  • (06/2009) Catalogue of Organisms: More on Drosophila and Sophophora
    
    
  • (01/2008) Catalogue of Organisms: Drosophila forever?

• (04/2010) Aaron Huertas: Scientists Go Renaming Things with Cultural Value Again

• (04/2010) Arthropoda: Is ‘the Drosophila‘ actually Drosophila?

• (04/2010) Heathen Scientist: Drosophila politics: Sophophora melanogaster

• (04/2010) Fish Matters: Cleaning out the bugs: fruitfly name to be based on science not convention

• (04/2010) Nobel Intent: Demotion commotion: First Pluto, now fruit flies?

• (02/2009) Insect Museum: D. or S. melanogaster?

• (04/2008) Sandwalk: Saving Drosophila

• (04/2008) EVOLGEN: Saving the Name of Drosophila melanogaster

• (02/2008) Holliday Junction: Sophophora, der allseits bekannte Modellorganismus

Academic

• Kim van der Linde: Revising the genus paraphyletic Drosophila sensu lato

Twitter
To see the discussion occurring on Twitter see #drosophaclypse, #savedrosophila.