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All fruitflies are very small insects that lay their eggs in various plant tissues.
Drosophila melanogaster, also called vinegar fly, is a much used laboratory insect; its 10-day life cycle and large chromosomes, particularly those of the salivary glands of the larva, have made it invaluable in the study of genetics.
Fruitflies are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Diptera, families Tephritidae and Drosophilidae.
This is important for their scientific usefulness as it allows virgin flies to be collected and separated according to sex before they are able to mate, allowing genetic crosses to be studied when they are paired with flies that have other variations.
Fliesfly via straight sequences of movement interspersed by rapid turns called saccades.
As a result, fruitflys are commonplace in genetic research labs.