Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 10 April 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5361, pp. 289 - 292
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5361.289
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Visual Input to the Efferent Control System of a Fly's "Gyroscope"

Wai Pang Chan, Frederick Prete, Michael H. Dickinson *

Dipterous insects (the true flies) have a sophisticated pair of equilibrium organs called halteres that evolved from hind wings. The halteres are sensitive to Coriolis forces that result from angular rotations of the body and mediate corrective reflexes during flight. Like the aerodynamically functional fore wings, the halteres beat during flight and are equipped with their own set of control muscles. It is shown that motoneurons innervating muscles of the haltere receive strong excitatory input from directionally sensitive visual interneurons. Visually guided flight maneuvers of flies may be mediated in part by efferent modulation of hard-wired equilibrium reflexes.

W. P. Chan and M. H. Dickinson, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
F. Prete, Department of Psychology, DePaul University, 1036 West Belden Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The free-flight response of Drosophila to motion of the visual environment.
M. Mronz and F.-O. Lehmann (2008)
J. Exp. Biol. 211, 2026-2045
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Integration of Lobula Plate Output Signals by DNOVS1, an Identified Premotor Descending Neuron.
J. Haag, A. Wertz, and A. Borst (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 1992-2000
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Antennal Mechanosensors Mediate Flight Control in Moths.
S. P. Sane, A. Dieudonne, M. A. Willis, and T. L. Daniel (2007)
Science 315, 863-866
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Visual stimulation of saccades in magnetically tethered Drosophila.
J. A. Bender and M. H. Dickinson (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 3170-3182
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon dioxide instantly sensitizes female yellow fever mosquitoes to human skin odours.
T. Dekker, M. Geier, and R. T. Carde (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 2963-2972
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A single control system for smooth and saccade-like pursuit in blowflies.
N. Boeddeker and M. Egelhaaf (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 1563-1572
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Initiation and Control of Rapid Flight Maneuvers in Fruit Flies.
M. H. Dickinson (2005)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 45, 274-281
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Summation of visual and mechanosensory feedback in Drosophila flight control.
A. Sherman and M. H. Dickinson (2004)
J. Exp. Biol. 207, 133-142
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A comparison of visual and haltere-mediated equilibrium reflexes in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
A. Sherman and M. H. Dickinson (2003)
J. Exp. Biol. 206, 295-302
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dendro-Dendritic Interactions between Motion-Sensitive Large-Field Neurons in the Fly.
J. Haag and A. Borst (2002)
J. Neurosci. 22, 3227-3233
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The influence of visual landscape on the free flight behavior of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
L. F. Tammero and M. H. Dickinson (2002)
J. Exp. Biol. 205, 327-343
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
How Animals Move: An Integrative View.
M. H. Dickinson, C. T. Farley, R. J. Full, M. A. Koehl, R. Kram, and S. Lehman (2000)
Science 288, 100-106
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Ultrabithorax and the control of cell morphology in Drosophila halteres.
F Roch and M Akam (2000)
Development 127, 97-107
   Abstract »    PDF »
Animal movement, mechanical tuning and coupled systems.
T. Daniel and M. Tu (1999)
J. Exp. Biol. 202, 3415-3421
   Abstract »    PDF »
Blowfly flight and optic flow. II. Head movements during flight.
J. Hateren and C Schilstra (1999)
J. Exp. Biol. 202, 1491-1500
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)