FRUIT FLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fruit fly mean? 

• FRUIT FLY (noun)
  The noun FRUIT FLY has 1 sense:

1. any of numerous small insects whose larvae feed on fruits

  Familiarity information: FRUIT FLY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRUIT FLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous small insects whose larvae feed on fruits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

fruit fly; pomace fly

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)

 Context examples 

Species ranging from fruit flies to trout can learn about food using social transmission.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

The scientists used fruit flies to examine the relationship between lifespan and signaling proteins that defend the body against environmental stressors, such as bacterial infections and cold temperatures.

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

Roundworms, like fruit flies, are often used as models for larger organisms.

(Roundworms have the Right Stuff, NASA)

Fruit flies carry between five and 20 different species of bacteria and Dr. Mazmanian’s team treated the germ-free animals with individual strains of those microbes.

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

The best known species is D. Melanogaster, often called the fruit fly, but more correctly termed the vinegar fly.

(Drosophila, NCI Thesaurus)

In a study of fruit flies, National Institutes of Health scientists suggested that the body’s immune system may play a critical role in the damage caused by aging brain disorders.

(New study implicates hyperactive immune system in aging brain disorders, National Institutes of Health)

In 2007, NHGRI launched modENCODE to catalog functional elements in the Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm) and Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) genomes.

(Expanding Our Understanding of Genomics, NIH)

To learn more, scientists artificially bred 13 generations of wild fruit flies to produce flies that were either long sleepers (sleeping 18 hours each day) or short sleepers (sleeping three hours each day).

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

Their experiments in fruit flies revealed that motor neurons that control the flies’ muscles release vesicles containing a high concentration of the Arc gene’s messenger RNA (mRNA), the DNA-like intermediary molecule cells use to create the protein encoded by a DNA sequence.

(Memory gene goes viral, National Institutes of Health)

Using two animal models of a degenerative neurological disorder, the researchers were able to find a similar dysfunctional process occurring in fruit flies and mice, as well as human cells, meaning that their findings are likely to be replicated in human brains.

(New Mechanisms Found of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)