[ad_1]
A fly buzzes in front of your head and lands nearby; you rip off a flyswatter or roll up a magazine and cautiously approach – and hit!
But no matter how fast you are, the fly is almost always faster and usually manages to escape your shot and escape unscathed. (Is he trying to bore you ?!)
Flies have many adaptations that give them increased speed, maneuverability, and awareness, making them very, very good at detecting and avoiding even the fastest swats. And new evidence shows that the modified hind wings of flies play an important role in launching them into a rapid takeoff – often just in time.
Related: 7 amazing bug ninja skills
House flies (House fly) belong to the order Diptera, or true flies. Diptera flies have modified hind wings that have evolved into stick-like structures with a button on the end, called dumbbells. Their vibrations help insects stabilize their bodies in flight, by detecting body rotations and transmitting information to the wings.
Flies from the Diptera Calyptratae subgroup, which includes house flies, also vibrate their halters while walking, but scientists were unsure why. In a study published online January 13, 2021 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the researchers studied Calyptratae flies to see if the swing of the dumbbell affected their transition through air, directing additional sensory input to help coordinate movement of the muscles of the wings and legs.
Using high-speed cameras to capture captive and free flies reared in the laboratory during takeoff, scientists recorded images at speeds of up to 3,000 frames per second. They found that Calyptratae flies pitched about five times faster than other flies; their takeoffs took an average of about 0.007 seconds (7 milliseconds) and a single wing flap.
“None of the Calyptratae had a take-off time greater than 14 milliseconds [0.014 seconds]», Report the researchers. In comparison, take-offs of non-calyptrated flies lasted about 0.039 seconds (39 milliseconds) and required about four wing beats, according to the study.
Next, the researchers removed the halters, which all Diptera flies have. Calyptratae flies lacking these gnarled structures took much longer to fly, but take-off time was not affected in non-Calyptratae flies without halter. Take-off stability also suffered from the halter removal, but only in Calyptratae flies. For example, the Calyptratae insects known as the puffer flies that attempted to take off without their halter “always resulted in a hard landing,” the scientists reported.
“Using Haltere thus allows for greater speed and stability during rapid escapes – but only in the Calyptratae clade,” the scientists wrote in the study.
In the blink of an eye
Halters aren’t the only secret weapon in a fly’s elusive arsenal; once a fly is in flight, it can perform maneuvers that would be the envy of a fighter pilot. Fruit flies can change course in less than 1 / 100th of a second – about 50 times faster than an eye can blink, Previously reported Live Science. In the experiments, the perfectly synchronized wing flaps generated enough force to quickly propel the flies away from a predator in flight.
“These flies roll 90 degrees – some are almost upside down – to maximize their strength and escape,” Florian Muijres, who studied the biomechanics of flight at the University of Washington in Seattle, and is now at the ‘University of Wageningen and Netherlands told Live Science in 2014.
Flies also have exceptional vision, which helps them plan their jumps away from a threat. About 200 milliseconds before takeoff, fruit flies use a visual input warning of imminent danger to adjust their posture and identify the direction that will propel them to safety, scientists wrote in 2008 in the journal. Current biology.
In fact, their enhanced perception juggles up to six times more visual input in a second than humans can, the BBC reported in 2017.
Animal brains perceive the passage of time by processing images at speeds known as the “flicker fusion rate,” a term describing the number of images that flash in their brains per second. Roger Hardie, professor emeritus of cellular neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in England, implanted electrodes into the photoreceptors of flies’ eyes to measure their scintillating fusion rate, calculating it to 400 times per second; the average flicker fusion rate for humans is around 60, according to the BBC. This means that the movement that you perceive as “normal” moves like the slow motion of a fly.
With all of these perks built in, it’s no wonder the fly you are trying to crush can escape. However, one approach that might improve your odds is to aim your swat at a place the fly is likely to go, rather than where it is resting, said Michael Dickinson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The independent in 2011.
“It’s best not to crush the fly’s starting position,” Dickinson said. “Aim a little ahead to anticipate where the fly will jump.”
Originally posted on Live Science.
[ad_2]
Source link