Publication: Species-Specific Flight Styles of Flies are Reflected in the Response Dynamics of a Homolog Motion-Sensitive Neuron
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Abstract
Hoverfliesandblowflieshavedistinctlydifferentflightstyles.Yet,bothspecieshavebeenshowntostructuretheirflightbehaviorinawaythatfacilitatesextractionof3Dinformationfromtheimageflowontheretinaopticflow).Neuronalcandidatestoanalyzetheopticflowarethetangentialcellsinthethirdopticalganglion–thelobulacomplex.Theseneuronsaredirectionallyselectiveandintegratetheopticflowoverlargepartsofthevisualfield.Homologtangentialcellsinhoverfliesandblowflieshaveasimilarmorphology.Becauseblowfliesandhoverflieshavesimilarneuronallayoutbutdistinctlydifferentflightbehav-iors,theyareanidealsubstratetopinpointpotentialneuronaladaptationstothedifferentflightstyles.Inthisarticlewedescribetherelationshipbetweenlocomotionbehaviorandmotionvisiononthreedifferentlevels:(1)Wecomparethedifferentflightstylesbasedonthecategorizationofflightbehaviorintoprototypicalmovements.(2)Wemeasurethespecies-specificdynamicsoftheopticflowundernaturalisticflightconditions.Wefoundthetranslationalopticflowofbothspeciestobeverydifferent.(3)Wedescribepossi-bleadaptationsofahomologmotion-sensitiveneuron.Westimulatethiscellinblowflies(Calliphora)andhoverflies(Eristalis)withnaturalisticopticflowgeneratedbybothspeciesduringfreeflight.Thecharacterizedhoverflytangentialcellrespondsfastertotransientchangesintheopticflowthanitsblowflyhomolog.Itisdiscussedwhetherandhowthedifferentdynamicalresponsepropertiesaidopticflowanalysis.