drosophila








noun, plural dro·soph·i·las, dro·soph·i·lae [droh-sofuh-lee, druh-] /droʊˈsɒf əˌli, drə-/.

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

noun plural -las or -lae (-ˌliː)

  1. 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, etcAlso called: fruit fly, vinegar fly
n.

scientific name of a fruit fly, 1829, from Modern Latin (Fallén, 1823), from Greek drosos “dew” + philos “loving” see -phile).

  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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