The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vinegar fly
Vinegar fly \Vin"e*gar fly\ Any of several fruit flies, esp. Drosophila ampelopophila, which breed in imperfectly sealed preserves and in pickles.
WordNet
vinegar fly
n. flies whose larvae feed on pickles and imperfectly sealed preserves
Usage examples of "vinegar fly".
For the bulk of this century a favoured organism for geneticists to study, because of the ease with which it can be maintained, its rapid breeding cycle and the possibility of studying populations of many thousands, has been the tiny fruit fly (sometimes called vinegar fly), Drosophila melanogaster, which gathers like specks of coal dust, seemingly magnetically attracted to over-ripe fruit.