Fastest animals
The fastest land animal is the cheetah, which has a recorded speed of . The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird and the fastest member of the animal kingdom with a diving speed of . The fastest animal in the sea is the black marlin, which has a recorded speed of .
Fly
Flies have rapid reflexes that aid their escape from predators but their sustained flight speeds are low. Dolichopodid flies in the genus "Condylostylus" respond in less than 5 milliseconds to camera flashes by taking flight. In the past, the deer bot fly, "Cephenemyia", was claimed to be one of the fastest insects on the basis of an estimate made visually by Charles Townsend in 1927. This claim, of speeds of 600 to 800 miles per hour, was regularly repeated until Irving Langmuir showed it to be physically impossible as well as incorrect. Langmuir suggested an estimated speed of 25 miles per hour.