Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
vinegar fly
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
Close-up of a common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, showing its red eyes, brown body, and transparent wings, standing on a textured white surface. Benzer, Seymour Diagram illustrating sex-linked inheritance of white and red eye color in Drosophila fruit flies, showing genetic crosses between white-eyed and red-eyed males and females, with chromosomes and resulting eye color traits mapped through two generations.
Quizzes
wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination
Know Your Bugs Quiz
Quick Facts
Also called:
pomace fly, lesser fruit fly, or small fruit fly
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Close-up of a common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, showing its red eyes, brown body, and transparent wings, standing on a textured white surface.
Vinegar fly A red-eyed adult vinegar fly, also known as the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).

vinegar fly

insect genus
Also known as: Drosophila, pomace fly, small fruit fly
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History
Taxonomy

See also list of flies

vinegar fly, (genus Drosophila), genus of small fruit flies comprising about 1,500 species. Some species, particularly D. melanogaster, are used extensively in laboratory and field experiments on genetics and evolution because they are easy to raise and have a short life cycle (less than two weeks at room temperature). More studies have been conducted concerning the genetics of the vinegar fly than have been obtained for any other animal. Drosophila chromosomes, especially the giant chromosomes found in the salivary glands of mature larvae, are used in studies involving heritable characteristics and the basis for gene action.

The biology of Drosophila in its natural habitats is not well known. The larvae of some species live in rotting or damaged fruits. In these species the adults are strongly attracted to, and feed on, fermenting plant juices. In other species the larvae develop in fungi or in fleshy flowers.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.