Library / English Dictionary

FRUIT FLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous small insects whose larvae feed on fruits

Synonyms:

fruit fly; pomace fly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("fruit fly" is a kind of...):

dipteran; dipteron; dipterous insect; two-winged insects (insects having usually a single pair of functional wings (anterior pair) with the posterior pair reduced to small knobbed structures and mouth parts adapted for sucking or lapping or piercing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fruit fly"):

apple maggot; railroad worm; Rhagoletis pomonella (larvae bore into and feed on apples)

Ceratitis capitata; medfly; Mediterranean fruit fly (small black-and-white fly that damages citrus and other fruits by implanting eggs that hatch inside the fruit)

drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster (small fruit fly used by Thomas Hunt Morgan in studying basic mechanisms of inheritance)

vinegar fly (flies whose larvae feed on pickles and imperfectly sealed preserves)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Fruit flies without Mthl10 live up to 25 percent longer," Shears said.

(Defending against environmental stressors may shorten lifespan, National Institutes of Health)

The team investigated ways in which gut bacteria may affect behavior in fruit flies.

(Gut bacteria may control movement, National Institutes of Health)

The study, conducted using fruit fly populations bred to model natural variations in human sleep patterns, provides new clues to how genes for sleep duration are linked to a wide variety of biological processes.

(Researchers explore complex genetic network behind sleep duration, National Institutes of Health)

Another part of the fruit fly study shows that avoiding excess calorie intake, basically not over-indulging in too much carbohydrate and fat, may reduce levels of proinflammatory proteins.

(Defending against environmental stressors may shorten lifespan, National Institutes of Health)

A new study suggest that gut bacteria may control movement in fruit flies and identify the neurons involved in this response.

(Gut bacteria may control movement, National Institutes of Health)