Drosophila C virus (DCV) belongs to the genus Cripavirus and was previously thought to be a member of the virus family Picornaviridae; it has since been classified as belonging to the Dicistroviridae.

[1] It is a single stranded positive sense RNA virus of approximately 9300 nucleotides and it contains two open reading frames.

[1] The virus particles are 30 nm in diameter and are made up of approximately 30% of RNA and 70% protein.

[1] Whilst based on this evidence it has been suggested DCV is a beneficial virus, this ignores the fact that the virus kills flies in only a few days (so total fitness in infected flies is still reduced),[6] and any changes in development time or ovariole number likely represent a host life history shift (parasite-induced fecundity compensation).

[7] Further support for host fecundity compensation following DCV infection comes from work showing that this response varies with fly genetic background, with some fly lines showing increased fecundity following infection, while others show a fecundity reduction.