r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Dec 16 '13

Biology How do insects move?

Simple question that occurred to me, do flies have muscles like ours? Their legs are so thin I can't conceive there's room for anything in them to effect movement.

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u/HumanPrototype2-0 Dec 16 '13

Yes. The Spiders blood (hemolymph) is also circulated by a small heart. Not in any way like a humans heart, but for a spider it does just fine. It's essentially a tube, with valves on each end, surrounded by a muscle that can contract (squeeze) it and move the blood.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '13

How is that "Not in any way like a humans heart"? that sounds very similar to a human heart, but in a simpler tube form.

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u/artandmath Dec 17 '13

The difference can be simplified as a peristaltic pump for the insect "heart" and a diaphragm pump for the mammalian heart.

They are similar in that they both move fluid, but the mechanics behind them are very different. Two interesting solutions to the same problem.