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.

---

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

---

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.

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• 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

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model for exploring that problem.

From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026

The species used, Drosophila melanogaster, is widely used in behavioral research because its genetic makeup and neural systems share important similarities with humans, Han explained.

From Science Daily • Mar. 31, 2026

Fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, are often found around our food waste bins as they feed on rotting fruit which gradually produces alcohol.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2025

The research team analysed the gene expression patterns in five key scent-detecting tissues across six different Drosophila species.

From Science Daily • Feb. 5, 2024

By the end of the evening, Sturtevant had sketched the first linear genetic map of half a dozen genes along a Drosophila chromosome.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee