What Do Fruit Flies Look Like?

Video transcription

I'm Mike Quinn and I have been an entomologist for 20 years and we are here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center talking about what do fruit flies look like. They are variable in size, they can be 2 to 12 millimeters in length and one of the key features of them is that they have boldly patterned wings in general and interestingly enough sometimes the wings they move them around and they actually resemble the legs of jumping spiders and so these mimicry that they are doing can actually deter jumping spiders from feeding on them. Jumping spiders are some of the main predators of fruit flies so a small fly with patterned wings 2 to 12 millimeters long are some of the ways to recognize a fruit fly.