Flight Mill and Stroboscopic Studies of Oriental Fruit Flies

A flight mill system was constructed in 1969 at the Hawaiian Fruit Flies Investigations Laboratory, Honolulu, to study the flight perform ance of 3 Hawaiian tephritids, Dacus cucurbitae Coquillett, D. dorsalis Hendel, and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) . The unique system allowed simultaneous measurements of 18 individual flies, and data were auto matically recorded on magnetic tape and computer analyzed (Chambers et al., unpublished data). The parameters measured with the system were: time in flight and at rest, distance flown, flight velocity, percentage of time flying and resting, and number of flights/hr. Standards were established for flight of both sexes of D. cucurbitae and D. dorsalis at various ages using the flight mills. These data were augmented by wingbeat and weight studies for the 3 fruit flies, and the results are presented in this paper.