Precise timing is ubiquitous, consistent, and coordinated across a comprehensive, spike-resolved flight motor program

Significance Brains can encode precise sensory stimuli, and specific motor systems also appear to be precise, but how important are millisecond changes in timing of neural spikes across the whole motor program for a behavior? We record nearly every spike that the hawk moth’s nervous system sends to its wing muscles. We show that all muscles convey the majority of their information in spike timing. The number of spikes does play a role, but not in a coordinated way across muscles. Instead, all coordination is done using the millisecond timing of spikes. The importance and prevalence of timing across the motor program pose questions for how nervous systems create precise, coordinated motor commands.