Coriolis and centrifugal forces drive haltere deformations and influence spike timing.

ABSTRACT: The halteres of flies are mechanosensory organs that serve a crucial role in the control of agile flight, providing sensory input for rapid course corrections to perturbations. Derived from hind wings, halteres are actively flapped and are thus subject to a variety of inertial forces as the fly undergoes complex flight trajectories. Previous analyses of halteres modelled them as a point mass, showing that Coriolis forces lead to subtle deflections orthogonal to the plane of flapping. By design, these models could not consider the effects of force gradients associated with a mass distribution, nor could they reveal three-dimensional spatio-temporal patterns of strain that result from those forces. In addition, diversity in the geometry of halteres, such as shape and asymmetries, could not b

SUBMITTER: Mohren TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6505556 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature