Halteres, highly specialized metathoracic wings are the balancing organs in Diptera. This is probably an adaptation for aerial swarming. Our understanding regarding the detailed structure of this organ is very little. An effort has been made to study the ultrastructure of halteres and the functional aspects of various parts have been discussed.Flies are relaxed in relaxing medium (Watkins and Doncaster Hawkhurst, England) or by keeping overnight in 50% ethanol. Halteres alongwith a little of thorax lateral wall are peeled off with the help of fine and sharp scalpel. These are boiled in distilled water for about 20 minutes to get rid off all the distortion of structure due to preservation. A fungal growth observed on the material is cleared off by putting a drop or two of phenol in boiling water. Material is then subjected to sonication in distilled water to remove any foreign particle adhering to halteres. Then the material is dehydrated by passing through ethanol series.
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