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The House Fly, Musca domestica, and Other Flies
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Insects of this family comprise what might be known as typical true flies, where the bristle of the antennae is feathery, and the abdomen is smooth except for a certain number of bristles near the tip. This group of flies consists of many species and includes some of the most common and abundant forms, such as the house fly (Musca domestica), the horn fly of cattle (Haematobia irritans), the stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans), green bottle fly (Phaenicia sericata) and some of the blue bottle flies (Calliphora vomitoria). Certain members of this group, such as the horn fly and stable fly, are very annoying and destructive to livestock.
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House Fly,
Musca domestica
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Many species of this group are valuable scavengers, consuming large quantities of decaying animal matter. However, some are injurious to humans by virtue of the fact that they feed on and breed in trash, decaying flesh, and bodily waste. This behavior facilitates the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhea and others. House fly larvae, or maggots, will eat most decaying animal or vegetable matter.
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Fly Maggots
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The common house fly is found all over the world. It prefers to lay its eggs in animal manure, but isn't picky and will lay eggs in decaying vegetable matter as well. For urban flies this preference would include easy to find dog poop. Before the automobile, when transportation was still dependent on animals, the abundance of horse poop provided ideal “nurseries” for house flies, which made them quite abundant around people. The dung fly (Scatophaga stercoraria) is also big fan of the same, making it common around barnyards.
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Dung Fly,
Scatophaga stercoraria
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House fly eggs are white, elongated and hatch within six to eight hours. The pointed, white, larvae, or maggots, grow rapidly. Under favorable conditions, maggots shed their skin twice and reach full size within four or five days. At maturity, the maggot's outer skin hardens, swells out, and turns dark brown. The fly lives in this pupal state for roughly five days. Finally, the adult fly emerges from a round hole in the anterior (front) end of the pupal covering. This makes the total life cycle for one generation of flies in temperate summer conditions about ten days, making twelve or more generations possible in a single summer. One female house fly lays, on average, half a dozen 100-egg batches before dying, which clearly explains the enormous numbers in which the insect occurs. For this reason, we should be grateful for their predators. Sanitary measures like properly storing and disposing of garbage helps in limiting the numbers of house flies.
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Flesh Fly,
Sarcophaga spp.
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There's a general misconception that house flies bite people. House fly mouthparts are designed for sponging up liquids not for piercing flesh. As in the movie "The Fly," they regurgitate saliva on their food to liquify it for easy consumption. The confusion on biting may be tied to stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans), which do bite people, and look very similar to the house fly (Musca domestica).
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Fly eggs on fish carcass
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At times little reddish objects can be seen covering a house fly. These objects are actually a species of parasitic mite. They attach themselves to house flies and literally suck their fluids out. It seems only fair that the house fly should have its own tormenters. House flies also die of fungal diseases. Dead house flies with a gray fur-like substance covering them have fallen victim to this menace. As the weather cools, fungal infections disappear.
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Blue Bottle Fly, Calliphora vomitoria
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Despite disease, parasites and predation, with its reproduction rate, the house fly is an unwelcome critter that's here to stay.
Andy Williams / CritterZone.com
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The house fly, flies, blue bottle fly, maggots, and green bottle fly, pictures on this page are available for commercial stock photography license. All text and photos that appear on this webpage are copyrighted and may not be copied or used in any way without permission from CritterZone.
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Green Bottle Flies on dead catfish,
Phaenicia sericata
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