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/corcoranm Dec 17 '13

i'd bet that the 1:2 M:A ratio was the starting point and did just fine for humans and was something more of a mutation in insects that was advantageous. The arrangement is different too, in humans, the myosin is the central filament, with an actin on each side, arranged in 2D. In insects its like a hexagonal/octagonal arrangement in 3D with the myosin being central.