Ormia ochracea

Ormia ochracea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Tachinidae
Subfamily: Tachininae
Tribe: Ormiini
Genus: Ormia
Species:
O. ochracea
Binomial name
Ormia ochracea
(Bigot, 1889)[1]
Synonyms

Ormia ochracea is a small yellow nocturnal fly in the family Tachinidae.[2] It is notable for its parasitism of crickets and its exceptionally acute directional hearing. The female is attracted to the song of the male cricket and deposits larvae on or around him, as was discovered in 1975 by the zoologist William H. Cade.[3]

Ormia ochracea is a model organism in sound localization experiments because of its unique "ears", which are complex structures inside the fly's prothorax near the bases of its front legs. The fly is too small for the time difference of sound arriving at the two ears to be calculated in the usual way, yet it can determine the direction of sound sources with exquisite precision. The tympanic membranes of opposite ears are directly connected mechanically, allowing resolution of nanosecond time differences[4][5] and requiring a new neural coding strategy. Various research groups have designed low-noise differential microphones inspired by O. ochracea’s directionally sensitive hearing system.

  1. ^ a b Bigot, J. M. F. (1889). "Dipteres nouveaux ou peu connus. 34e partie, XLII: Diagnoses de nouvelles especes". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 8 (6): 253–270.
  2. ^ O’Hara, James E.; Shannon, J. Henderson; D. Monty, Wood (5 March 2020). "World Checklist of the Tachinidae" (PDF). Tachinidae Resources. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  3. ^ Cade, W. (1975-12-26). "Acoustically Orienting Parasitoids: Fly Phonotaxis to Cricket Song". Science. 190 (4221). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): 1312–1313. doi:10.1126/science.190.4221.1312. ISSN 0036-8075. S2CID 85233362.
  4. ^ Miles, R. N.; Robert, D.; Hoy, R. R. (1995). "Mechanically coupled ears for directional hearing in the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 98 (6). Acoustical Society of America (ASA): 3059–3070. doi:10.1121/1.413830. ISSN 0001-4966. PMID 8550933.
  5. ^ Robert, D.; Miles, R.N.; Hoy, R.R. (1996). "Directional hearing by mechanical coupling in the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea". Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 179 (1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 29–44. doi:10.1007/bf00193432. ISSN 0340-7594. PMID 8965258. S2CID 21452506.