Levitating Hoverflies with Sound: A New Contactless Tool for Insect Biology

New research introduces acoustic levitation to study insect flight and behavior without the physical constraints of traditional tethers.

New York, NY– May 18, 2026 – A study published today in the Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences demonstrates a novel contactless tethering device that uses high-frequency sound waves to stably levitate hoverflies and other insects. The study, authored by researchers from Aix Marseille Université and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, introduces a breakthrough solution to a longstanding problem in insect biology: how to observe an insect’s natural flight behaviors without attaching physical tethers that inevitably alter its movement.

Historically, studying the sensorimotor responses of flying insects required tethering them with rigid rods or magnetic couplings. However, these physical attachments restrict the insect’s degrees of freedom and add unwanted mass and inertia, which disturb sensory feedback loops involved and potentially skew behavioral results.

To overcome this, the research team developed an acoustic levitator that aims two curved arrays of ultrasonic speakers at each other across an open chamber. The opposing sound waves create a focused standing wave—an invisible, stable “structure” that catches and suspends the insect in midair. A critical question for the researchers was whether this “sound trap” would stress the animals and alter their natural behaviors. By utilizing automated tracking software to monitor the motion rates of the levitating hoverflies’ abdomens, wings, and legs, the team found that the insects exhibited minimal disruptions, behaving almost identically whether the ultrasound was turned on or off.

Beyond hoverflies, the versatile device successfully levitated other species of varying shapes and sizes, including live ants, dead fruit flies, a dead cockroach, and a dead bee weighing nearly 60 milligrams.

“Acoustic tethering opens new avenues for investigating the behavior of various insects of different shapes, sizes, and masses, as it enables precise control over the trapping force and rotational dynamics of the levitating animal,” noted the study’s authors. This device will allow future experiments to release insects into free fall without stimulating their leg reflexes, providing an unbiased assessment of their aerial righting maneuvers.

About Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences is a 200+ year-old multidisciplinary that publishes high-impact primary research articles, reviews, and perspectives presenting significant advances across all scientific disciplines. The journal is truly multidisciplinary in scope — welcoming contributions from researchers worldwide in the life sciences, physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, environmental sciences, and the intersections among them. Papers are expected to advance understanding within their field, and where possible resonate beyond it. A hybrid journal, Ann NY Acad Sci is committed to open science and encourages authors to choose to support their research via Open Access licenses.

About the Study Authors

The study was authored by Gaillard Thomas, Victor Contreras, Dominique Martinez, and Stéphane Viollet. Stéphane Viollet’s research focuses on bio-inspired robotics and takes inspiration from animals to develop new technologies for autonomous robots.

Contacts

Stéphane Viollet – stephane.viollet@cnrs.fr