Quantitative genetics aims at untangling the genetic and environmental effects on phenotypic variation. Trait heritability, which summarizes the relative importance of genetic effects, is estimated at the intraspecific level, but theory predicts that heritability could influence long-term evolution of quantitative traits. The phylogenetic signal concept bears resemblance to heritability and it has often been called species-level heritability. Under certain conditions, such as trait neutrality or contribution to phylogenesis, within-species heritability and between-species phylogenetic signal should be correlated. Here, we investigate the potential relationship between these two concepts by examining the evolution of multiple morphological traits for which heritability has been estimated in Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, we analysed 42 morphological traits in both sexes on a phylogeny inferred from 22 nuclear genes for nine species of the melanogaster subgroup. We used Pagel’s λ as a measurement of phylogenetic signal because it is the least influenced by the number of analysed taxa. Pigmentation traits showed the strongest concordance with the phylogeny, but no correlation was found between phylogenetic signal and heritability estimates mined from the literature. We obtained data for multiple climatic variables inferred from the geographical distribution of each species. Phylogenetic regression of quantitative traits on climatic variables showed a significantly positive correlation with heritability. Convergent selection, the response to which depends on the trait heritability, may have led to the null association between phylogenetic signal and heritability for morphological traits in Drosophila. We discuss the possible causes of discrepancy between both statistics and caution against their confusion in evolutionary biology.

定量遗传学旨在阐明遗传和环境对表型变异的影响。性状遗传力总结了遗传效应的相对重要性，是在种内水平上估计的，但理论预测遗传力可能影响数量性状的长期进化。系统发育信号概念与遗传力相似，通常被称为物种水平遗传力。在某些条件下，例如性状中性或对系统发育的贡献，种内遗传力和种间系统发育信号应该相关。在这里，我们通过检查多种形态性状的进化来研究这两个概念之间的潜在关系，这些形态性状的遗传力已在果蝇中进行了估计。具体来说，我们根据黑腹果蝇亚群 9 个物种的 22 个核基因推断的系统发育分析了两性的 42 个形态特征。我们使用 Pagel 的 λ 作为系统发育信号的测量，因为它受分析类群数量的影响最小。色素沉着特征与系统发育表现出最强的一致性，但在系统发育信号和从文献中挖掘的遗传力估计之间没有发现相关性。我们获得了从每个物种的地理分布推断出的多个气候变量的数据。气候变量数量性状的系统发育回归显示与遗传力呈显着正相关。趋同选择的反应取决于性状遗传力，可能导致果蝇系统发育信号和形态性状遗传力之间的无效关联。我们讨论了统计数据之间差异的可能原因，并警告它们在进化生物学中不要混淆。