drosophila

American  

[droh-sof-uh-luh, druh-] / droʊˈsɒf ə lə, drə- /

noun

drosophilas, plural drosophilae plural

1. a fly of the genus Drosophila, especially D. melanogaster, used in laboratory studies of genetics and development.

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drosophila British  

/ drɒˈsɒfɪlə /

noun

1. Also called: fruit fly.   vinegar fly.  any small dipterous fly of the genus Drosophila, esp D. melanogaster, a species widely used in laboratory genetics studies: family Drosophilidae. They feed on plant sap, decaying fruit, etc

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drosophila Scientific  

/ drō-sŏf′ə-lə /

1. Any of various small fruit flies of the genus Drosophila, one species of which (D. melanogaster) is used extensively in genetic research to study patterns of inheritance and the functions of genes.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• drosophilae
  plural
• drosophilas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of drosophila

< New Latin < Greek dróso ( s ) dew + New Latin -phila < Greek -philē, feminine of -philos -phile

Explanation

Drosophila is the scientific name for fruit flies. Those tiny insects that start to hover around your fruit bowl when you let the bananas get too brown? They're probably drosophila. Drosophila, which live just about everywhere on earth, are the tiniest, fastest-breeding fruit flies, also known as "vinegar flies" or "wine flies." As these nicknames imply, drosophila are attracted to rotting or fermenting fruit. Because of their short lifespan and large numbers of offspring, drosophila are frequently used in studies of genetics. The Modern Latin word drosophila, the genus of these particular kinds of flies, means "dew-loving," from Greek roots drosos, "dew," and philos, "loving."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drosophila drosophilae

The berries are threatened by the spotted wing drosophila, a fruit fly from East Asia first detected in the United States in 2008.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2023

Yet ever since then, the tiny drosophila has been at the forefront of genetic research.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2016

Where is the line between the primates we all like and rats most of us don't, or even drosophila none of us, except for perhaps Jains, cares about?

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2016

Female spotted wing drosophila deposit their eggs right into the berries, meaning Siders has to spray insecticides often to prevent crop loss.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 30, 2016

Take that staple of genetics research, drosophila – aka the fruit fly.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 1, 2012

When professional geneticists cried foul, Lysenko denounced them as cold-hearted brainiacs, “fly-lovers and people-haters” peering into their tanks of mating drosophilae, oblivious to the world of practical work.

From Slate ● Jan. 18, 2017