Today, I observed a housefly that was unable to turn off its wings. It couldn't stop them from flapping, even if it was holding onto a surface. Has anyone else seen something like this? Explanation?
I've seen that but the wings were not flapping as much as when it was flying. It wouldn't be able to land if it had a constant wing speed that keeps it up in the air flying. Remember however that the fly could land somewhere else after you saw it and then stop its wings from flapping.
The OP is Titled "...fly unable to stop flying?", yet evidently you observed the housefly "holding onto a surface", i.e. Not "flying". You deduced that the housefly "was unable to turn off its wings" and that "It couldn't stop them from flapping"! Perhaps you could provide an "Explanation" of the thought processes that led you to those deductions, elte ? As far as "something like this"? Well...how about "Politicians" filibustering?
In the case I observed, the buzzing sound stayed loud like a fly that wanted to try to voluntarily fly. I didn't notice it increase when the fly actually let go and took off from one place to another. I'm glad that you mentioned how you saw something similar.
So maybe what you saw was that it was trying to fly but couldn't. It is losing it's ability to fly. So it still manages to take wing after some effort, but it becomes increasingly difficult. What a drag it is growing old.
It seemed like the opposite because it looked as though when it was on something, it was holding for its dear life and putting forth all its effort not to take to the air. I agree about getting old as a drag.
I'd hazard a guess: The wings on a fly are rigid when the fly pressurises them, if it's a new fly (recently changed from it's maggot form) then it's possible that it would beat it's wings to bring up the pressure so that it can fly with no deformation.
I think it is right that it was newly emerged from its pupa state. So maybe that fits how it might have been pressurizing the wings. In that case, maybe the process got stuck on and then merged with the flying process, which then took over but just couldn't be stopped.
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I used to, but it occurred to me they didn't really bother me much. So I let them out the door. However, I swat those other kind with the gray stripes that bite! LOL Arne. It took a while for that to register on my foggy brain.
