Examination of the P-element phylogeny in light of the species phylogeny suggests that additional horizontal transfers may have occurred at various times in the past and may explain the overall structure of the P-element phylogeny in Sophophora.

Transposable elements (TEs) from D.melanogaster are also found in species of the obscura group. Dobs\P-element shows close sequence similarity to the D.melanogaster homolog.