To dodge predators, flies in flight execute banked turns in just a few wingbeats — much faster than the steering motions that have been previously observed in flies.
Michael Dickinson and his colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle used three high-speed cameras operating at 7,500 frames per second to capture the flight responses of a fruit fly species (Drosophila hydei; pictured) when it evades a threat looming in front of it. They found that with slight changes in wing motion, the insects use a combination of side-to-side rotation of the body and front-to-back body tilting to rapidly steer away from threats.
The flies then quickly rotate back to a normal position as they accelerate away from danger.
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Fast moves of fleeing fruit flies. Nature 508, 291 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/508291e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/508291e
