Crane fly, with a pair of halteres visible below the wings as appendages, about as long as the animal's antennae, with knobs on the end

This article concerns insect anatomy. Insects in the family Tipulidae are commonly known as crane flies. For halteres as used in ancient sports, see Halteres (ancient Greece)

Halteres (pronounced /hælˈtɪəriːz/; singular halter or haltere), also known as balancers or poisers, are small knobbed structures found as a pair in some two-winged insects; they are flapped rapidly to maintain stability when flying. This article concerns an ancient sports object For halteres as used in insect anatomy see Halteres. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described

Halteres are homologous to, and evolved from, insect wings. In Evolutionary biology, homology has come to mean any similarity between characters that is due to their shared ancestry. Insect wings are outgrowths of the Insect Exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. The ancestral insect species had two pairs of wings (like most flying insect species today). In the Strepsiptera the forewings changed into halteres, while in the Diptera (flies, mosquitoes and gnats) the hindwings evolved into halteres. The Strepsiptera (known in older literature as twisted-winged parasites) are an order of Insects with nine families making up about 600 species True flies are Insects of the Order Diptera ( Greek: di = two and pteron = wing possessing a single pair of

Halteres operate as vibrating structure gyroscopes: the vibrating halteres tend to maintain their plane of vibration, and if the body of the insect turns or changes direction in flight, a bending strain develops which the animal detects with sensory organs known as campaniform sensilla located at the base of the halteres. In Science, a vibrating structure gyroscope is a type of Gyroscope that functions much like the Halteres of insects See also Sense A sensory system is a part of the Nervous system responsible for processing sensory information Campaniform sensilla are Mechanoreceptors found in Insects When the Exoskeleton bends the resulting strain stimulates the sensilla

Halteres thus act as a balancing and guidance system, helping flies to perform their fast aerial acrobatics. A guidance system is a device or group of devices used to navigate a Ship, Aircraft, Missile, Rocket, Satellite, or other They play an important role in stabilising the gaze of these insects during flight and also provide rapid feedback to wing-steering muscles to stabilise aerodynamic force moments. They are the equivalent of an aircraft's attitude indicator. An attitude indicator (ADI also known as gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is an instrument used in an Aircraft to inform

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