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Biological sensors

Controlling the fly's gyroscopes

Nature volume 392, pages 757–758 (1998)Cite this article

True flies — such as hoverflies or the blow fly Calliphora vicina — have breathtaking aerobatic capabilities due to a very elaborate flight apparatus. Not only do they beat their wings up to 150 times per second, but they have a gearbox with three gears in the wing joint1, and use non-stationary aerodynamics to generate exceptionally large flight forces2. These flies also show masterly control as they fly around obstacles and through turbulent air, and the way in which they do this is revealed in part by Chan et al.3 in Science. The authors report unexpected features of the ‘gyroscopic’ sense organs that tell the fly about its rotations in space.

Most insects have four wings, consisting of the thin wing blade spread between a framework of stiff veins that also carry touch and strain receptors4. Wings are, therefore, usually mechanical effectors and sense organs at the same time. The wings of true flies are driven by two kinds of specialized muscle. First, two large ‘power’ muscles (which fill most of the fly's thorax) contract antagonistically at wing-beat frequency, in mechanical resonance with the thoracic box5. They produce several contraction cycles for each impulse from a motor neuron, so they are also called ‘asynchronous’ muscles5. Second, 13 small ‘control’ muscles, operating synchronously, act on the wing joint to extend and retract the wings, and to modify the wing kinematics for steering5.

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Figure 1: Halteres, the ‘gyroscopic’ sense organs of the blow fly Calliphora vicina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Biologische Kybernetik, Spemannstrasse 38, D-72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Roland Hengstenberg

  2. Institute for Advanced Study, Wallotstrasse 19, D-14193, Berlin, Germany

    Roland Hengstenberg

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  1. Roland Hengstenberg
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Hengstenberg, R. Controlling the fly's gyroscopes. Nature 392, 757–758 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33796

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