Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Flies appear on Old Babylonian seals as symbols of Nergal, the god of death. [93] Fly-shaped lapis lazuli beads were often worn in ancient Mesopotamia, along with other kinds of fly-jewellery. [93] In Ancient Egypt, flies appear in amulets and as a military award for bravery and tenacity, due to the fact that they always come back when swatted at.
This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names, scuttle fly. Another vernacular name, coffin fly, refers to Conicera tibialis. [1] About 4,000 species are known in 230 genera. The most well-known species is cosmopolitan Megaselia scalaris. At 0.4 mm in length, the world's smallest fly is the phorid Euryplatea nanaknihali. [2]
Unusual names have caused issues for scientists explaining genetic diseases to lay-people, such as when an individual is affected by a gene with an offensive or insensitive name. [14] This has particularly been noted in patients with a defect in the sonic hedgehog gene pathway and the disease formerly named CATCH22 for "cardiac anomaly, T-cell ...
The family name refers to this unusual distinction; "Cryptochetidae" literally means "those with hidden bristles". The adult flies also are unusual among insects in that they have only a single pair of abdominal spiracles — this is not a serious physiological challenge in such small insects.
The antler fly breeds on discarded antlers of moose and other deer. [4] As adaptations to such a scarce and scattered resource, they have several unusual behaviour patterns. For one thing, the males are astonishingly bellicose; the specific epithet litigata reflects the fact — in context it means "aggressive", as in the English word "litigious".
For example, the flies known as "emergers" in North America are designed by fly fishermen to resemble subimago mayflies, and are intended to lure freshwater trout. [83] In 1983, Patrick McCafferty recorded that artificial flies had been based on 36 genera of North American mayfly, from a total of 63 western species and 103 eastern/central species.
Ephydridae (shore fly, sometimes brine fly) is a family of insects in the order Diptera. Shore flies are tiny flies that can be found near seashores or at smaller inland waters, such as ponds. About 2,000 species have been described worldwide, [ 2 ] including Ochthera .
The name "Plecoptera" literally means "braided-wings", from the Ancient Greek plekein (πλέκειν, "to braid") and pteryx (πτέρυξ, "wing"). [7] This refers to the complex venation of their two pairs of wings, which are membranous and fold flat over their backs. Stoneflies are generally not strong fliers, and some species are entirely ...