The flyder is a family of small spaceborne species native to the Haestes nebula in the Cygnus region.

Flyders are exoskeletal, adapted to zero gravity, and have four legs, with eight widely-spaced eyes giving excellent depth perception. Adult flyders typically range between 40-60cm in body length, with overall leg spans of about 2 metres. A few species are larger or smaller.

Living in the dust and rock clouds of the Haestes nebula, flyders are adapted to zero gravity, and do not need to breathe. They spend their time grazing on minerals filtered from the clouds, leaping between larger rocks. They can spin a high-tensile strand, which is used to tether themselves when making jumps, and can expel waste matter as a form of reaction thrust for course corrections. The tether strand is only used for this purpose; flyders do not create webs.

Although their natural habitat is zero gravity, flyders can survive in higher gravities, up to 0.2G. Since they are not predatory and are moderately intelligent, about the same as a terrestrial bird, they have been introduced to some low-G habitats, sometimes for study but mostly for amusement.