Probable transcription factor. Required for the establishment of a subset of imaginal tissues: the abdominal histoblasts and the salivary gland imaginal rings. First detected in neuroblasts in stage 9 embryos. Expressed in all 10 abdominal segments and in the labial segment during early embryogenesis. Expressed in the stage 14 developing epithelium. By embryonic stage 16, expression is refined to the abdominal histoblasts and salivary gland imaginal ring cells. Expressed in both larval and imaginal cells between the salivary gland and the salivary gland imaginal ring, in late third instar larvae. Also expressed in specific areas of the larval wing, leg and eye-antennal disks. Expressed in all stages of zygotic development, with highest levels of expression during embryonic and early pupal stages, and lower levels in larval and adult stages.