what does drosophilia mean?

Answer 1

A genus of fruit fly that can be raised as live food for fish. An important food for surface-dwelling aquarium fish.

Also enclosed link where I found the answer. My new word for the day...thanks!

Answer 2

Drosophilia is the fruit fly that is used to demonstrate the transmission of characteristics in genetic experiments (eg, eye color, wings crumpled, size, etc). Here is a link to a picture:

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/image_gallery/Drosophilia_melanica.asp

Answer 3

Yep, if you wanted to know the literal translation of the word, a previous answer was spot on, saying something like " "Drosophila is a modern scientific name for a genus of flies adaptated from Greek δρόσος, drósos, = "dew", + φίλος, phílos, "loving", moified into the Latin feminine suffix -a."
Therefore, the name of this fly genus is a combination of latin and greek, like many scientific names. That's why i say scientific name, not latin name...as greek, or other languages are involved sometimes.

If you just want to know what they are, they are tiny flies...


P.s I didn't just use wikipedia, despite the link below. I modified the details from wikipedia a bit here.....
:)

Answer 4

Drosophila is the scientific name for fruit fly, technically encompassing a large number of fruit fly species. The most famous one of these is Drosophila melanogaster, which is used in genetic research. So when people talk about Drosophila, they are most likely talking about Drosophila melanogaster. But if you talk to a population geneticist, you have to specify melanogaster because they also study other fruit fly species like Drosophila miranda, Drosophila simulans, Drosophila psuedoobscura, etc. You can learn more about this at http://www.flybase.org

Answer 5

As far as the etymology of what the word 'drosophila' means, Some Dude has it correct.

Droso comes from the Greek word for dew (drosos), and refers to sugar or sugar water. The phila is from the Latin for lover, or attracted to, thus the name for the genus of fruit fly commonly used in genetic experiments literally translates to 'dew lover'.

Answer 6

Drosophila is a genus of small flies whose members are often called small fruit flies, or more appropriately vinegar flies, wine flies, pomace flies, grape flies, and picked fruit-flies. A second insect family, the Tephritidae are also called fruit flies; they feed on unripe or ripe fruit. One species in particular, Drosophila melanogaster, has been heavily used in research in genetics and is a common model organism in developmental biology. Indeed, the terms "fruit fly" and "Drosophila" are often used synonymously with D. melanogaster in modern biological literature. The entire genus, however, contains about 1,500 species and is very diverse in appearance, behavior, and breeding habitat.

Answer 7

It's the species name for a fly often used in genetics studies, because it tends to mutate fairly readily, and has a very quick generation time.

Correct, first reply. Genus name, not species. Slapped wrist silver!!

Answer 8

drosophila (n.) Any of various small fruit flies of the genus Drosophila, especially D. melanogaster, used extensively in genetic research.

Answer 9

Thats a fruit fly

Answer 10

well it is not in the dictionary or the world atlas are you shure it is a word at all or a slang