Flies in the flight simulator

A photo of the flight simulator in the Biofutures Group at the University of Ulm

Most of us may remember from the school’s biology lessons that the small fruit fly, with the characteristic red eyes, is an important model organism in genetics. Fruit flies, however, are also excellent model organisms in other areas of life science. In this article, we will look at how fruit flies can be used to understand the role of the visual system in flying insects. Apart from increasing our knowledge about the most species rich group of animals, it is important to know more about the role of vision in insects as it might give new insights into the interaction between motion control and vision in humans. The gained knowledge can, furthermore, prove valuable in the development of biologically inspired flying robots.

The art of fly flight
Fruit flies belong to the order Diptera, which only have two wings while most other insects have two pair of wings. The hind wings of fruit flies have evolved into small club-shaped appendages, the so-called halteres, which act as sensors to give the fly information about its rotation and turning during flight. Compared to the dragonfly, which has two pairs of normal wings that furthermore can move independently of each other, the evolution of halteres means that flies are not quite as good flyers.