Litinsects

Litinsects #7: Halteres Let’s talk about nomenclature for a second... Lots of species’ scientific names are composed of Greek words that somehow describe the group or a defining feature of the group. A bunch of insect groups include the ending –ptera because, you guessed it, most insects have wings! The scientific name of flies is DIPTERA, which should be relatively easy to decipher... it means TWO WINGS! But wait a minute, you may be saying to yourself, all winged insects have 4 wings right?! Yes they do, BUT o ne pair of wings can sometimes be modified into other structures. If you remember from beetles 🐞 , the forewing has been modified into elytra and they use only their hindwings to fly. Well in flies, the hindwings have been modified and they use only their forewings to fly. The second wing pair has been reduced to small structures called HALTERES. Halteres oscillate rapidly during flight, detecting rotations and perturbations. Flies use sensory info...