Different flies, same width. Very precise indeed.
From The Scientist :
Gregor and his colleagues used computer analysis and superimposition to measure and compare wing vein patterns in fruit flies. Even when grown at different temperatures, genetically similar flies had as little variation between two flies’ wings as between the left and right wings of a single fly. And genetically less-similar flies’ wings differed by no more than one cell’s width, suggesting exquisitely precise developmental control over vein patterns. “At every single step, we are at the precision of one half to one cell, so no [additional] error-reducing mechanisms [are] necessary,” says Gregor.
Confirming these data among fruit fly lines with known mutations in wing patterns is crucial, says evolutionary geneticist Ian Dworkin of Michigan State University in East Lansing. If the data hold, it would point to “a remarkable amount of communication between the two sides of the body,” he says. “It would mean development is really incredibly precise.”
Note: The article’s title, “Precisely Placed,” had me thinking a moment—grammatically, it sounded familiar—until I realized that it fits the pattern of “intelligently designed.” Hmmm.
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Hat tip: Ilion Troas