Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2016
The spatial dispersion of a neutral allele is described using the theory of multitype branching processes in which the types represent colonies between which individuals can migrate. Each mutant individual averages less than one offspring, so the mutant population faces certain extinction. Expressions are given for the first two moments of the total number of individuals to visit specified colonies in one, two and three dimensions. Data from Drosophila populations are used to show the improbability of the same neutral allele occurring at widely separated localities.