Do you mean the calypters? They are like miniature wings, though they don’t flap. Wikipedia is not helpful. I guess they are to do with stability or steering in flight.
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Never has a bird been so aptly named as the stilt <3
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They’re halteres “a pair of small club-shaped organs on the body of two orders of flying insects that provide information about body rotations during flight.”
“In addition to the fringe of hairs on their hind legs, feather-legged flies can be identified by the yellow coloration of their halteres (pair of small, knobby structures that are the modified second pair of wings).”
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True…until I saw:
…which I think wins out over Stilt! 
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When I see coots swimming they look like ‘normal’ small-sized waterfowl. Then I come across one walking on land and find myself thinking that their legs (and feet!) seem too big for their body:
Fulica atra | Eurasian Coot · 물닭
Of course, there are grasshoppers and katydids with large hind limbs for jumping. Then there’s Hexacentrinae, a subfamily of katydid called ‘Fierce Predatory Katydids’ in English that have long spines on their front legs to catch prey:
Hexacentrus japonicus | 베짱이
Need to flip something over? Need a hug? Need an insect to get stuck to your shirt? No problem – there’s a beetle for that:
Dicronocephalus adamsi | Adam’s Stag-horned Beetle · 사슴풍뎅이
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I couldn’t resist contributing this to this thread:
Surprised (and amused) by the variety of leg types of insects, I made a small collection of “leg observations” in our garden in (2023) - just a bit alienated by ignoring size ratios…
Insight? Every garden is a jungle :-)
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There’s an idiotic part of me that feels like there should be a human leg in the middle there somewhere… After all, you must walk in your garden too! :-)
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I just realized I forgot my favorite - this little moth who in my mind is wearing its fiesta pants!
Alypia octomaculata (Eight-spotted Forester Moth)
Then there is this beautiful, leg-exercising guy who my notes remind me “Alternately lifted each of its rear-most hind legs, fully extended them above itself, then put back down” repeatedly:
Toxorhynchites rutilus (Elephant Mosquito)
And these guys whose legs in flight make them look like flying asterisks:
Bittacomorpha clavipes (Eastern Phantom Crane Fly)
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I like the way different birds use their legs and feet. The hummingbirds I see tuck them up but I can see they are perfectly shaped for perching on tiny branches.
Here is a zanate springing into flight, almost like a gymnast!
Then there are the in-flight danglers., the science of which I do not know.
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I like the seemingly spring-loaded legs of grasshoppers and crickets:
Fall Field cricket
Pine Tree Spur-throat grasshopper
Roesel’s Bush-cricket
Greenhouse camel cricket
Two-striped Grasshopper
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A few flies with legs that I find interesting …
I can see how this one got its English common name:
Syritta pipiens | Thick-legged Hover Fly · 알통다리꽃등에
These stilt-legged flies are wasp mimics that move their front pair of legs around to look like wasp antennae. Quick, look over there!
Genus Rainieria
I’ve been told me that I have long legs but they don’t compare to how long these are:
Systropus nitobei | 나나니등에
Systropus suzukii | 스즈키나나니등에
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Here’s a possibly undescribed Trite sp. salticid I found in my garage yesterday, shortly before it made a leap at my phone. I like its chunky front legs.
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The color contrast between the legs of this weevil and it’s body impressed me – almost as much as its impressive ‘six-pack’.
And I just love the badass steampunk look of all the strong ball-and-socket joints of weevil anatomy.
Ooh. Also, check out the bad boy front legs of this March Fly.
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We need to mention our friends proudly rocking the hairy pins, aka the “beardy legs”!
Beardfooted Spider (Saitis barbipes)
(c) Cédric Mondy – some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49986763
…and Bearded-legs Crab Spider (Stephanopis barbipes)
(c) debtaylor142 – some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
…which is yet another example of nature inspiring human practices.
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Thick back legs, Hemiptera edition:
Anoplocnemis dallasi | 장수허리노린재
Thick front legs, Hemiptera edition:
Pachygrontha antennata | 더듬이긴노린재
The bee equivalent of wearing oversized Jnco pants?
Dasypoda japonica | Japanese Pantaloon Bee · 털보애꽃벌
Long legs are helpful if you need to carry something underneath you:
Tribe Ageniellini | Mud-nesting Spider Wasps
Loooooooong legs:
Tetragnatha praedonia | 장수갈거미
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