Housefly

Basics about the Housefly

Housefly is most common fly species found in houses. It is grey to
black with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hair
bodies and single pair of membranous wings. They have red eye, set
farther apart in the slightly large female.
Adult houseflies are usually 6 to 7 mm long with wingspan of 13 to
15 mm. The females tend to larger winged than male, while have
relatively long legs. The head is strongly convex in front and flat and
slightly conical behind. The pair of large compound eye almost
touches in the male, but are more widely separated in female. They
have three simple eyes and pair of short antennae. The thorax is
formed of three segment bears a pair of lateral leg. Mesothorax
bears a pair of wings and prothorax bears a pair of spiracles, close to
the wings.
The abdomen is made up of ten segments. The first remains
undeveloped; the second and 6 to 10 segments are very small.
Segments 3-5 are normal.  In females these segments form
ovipositor to help in reproduction. In the males, the last abdominal
segment serves as an external genitalia and the 9th segment bears a
pair of claspers for copulation. The abdomen bears spiracles for
respiration in both males and females. The last segment bears anal
cerci in both males and females.

Life cycle of housefly

The housefly life cycle closely similar that of most of insect: a basis
cycle that begin with an egg, then develops through a larva phase, a
pupa phase, and finally, into an adult, During a warm summer
optimal condition for a housefly the cycle, from fertilized egg to
adult, spans a more 7 to 10 days.
After a male housefly chases down and fertilizer a female
counterpart, she ready to lay her eggs. Houseflies are solitary
creatures. Like the rest of the insect world, males and females do
not stick together after mating and, unlike nesting insects; females
do not care for or protract eggs. Females simply leave the eggs
where they will be safe from predators and have plenty to eat upon
hatching.
The maggots grow rapidly. In less than two days they even double
in size and therefore molt. Molting is a process common to many
invertebrates through which a growing insect shed its former
exoskeleton and grow a new one. A maggot will molt twice more,
emerging larger and more developed each time.
Following its third molt, larvae will burrow deep into the substance
they even been feeding on. Their skins will darken and harden as
they enter the pupa stage. Inside this protective shell, the larva will
fully develop the body segments and appendages of an adult
housefly.
The only visible addition to the emerging housefly is a swollen
bump on the fly’s head, used to break through the shell, since the
housefly doesn’t have teeth or jaws to chew its way out; it uses this
fluid filled pouch to break through the pupa shell. Once fully
emerged, the bump deflates, back into the fly’s head.
A new adult housefly has, at most, three months to reproduce
before it dies. With so many predators, a housefly’s average lifespan
is even shorter 21 days. Luckily for the housefly, the phrase
“breeding like flies” isn’t just a figure of speech. Each female can lay
up to 900 eggs during her brief life.

Diseases spread by house flies

Houseflies are known to be responsible for spreading a range of
diseases and infections. The WHO states that house flies are
carriers of diarrhoeal diseases, skin and eye infections. Unlike other
insects such as mosquitoes, hose flies are not biting insects and are
indirect rather than direct vectors of diseases.
It has also been proven that houseflies can transmit food borne
pathogens and their associated toxin and resistance. Areas in close
proximity to animal production sites are at higher risk of
accumulation food borne diseases from flies.

Housefly diseases
Houseflies are known to carry and spread these diseases:
(1)Cholera (2) Conjunctivitis (3) Dysentery (4) Gastroenteritis
(5)Salmonellosis (6) Tuberculosis (7) Typhoid fever

They transmit this range due to their feeding and breeding habits.
Houseflies will often feed on rotting or decaying matter, as well as
human and animal faces. When a housefly feast upon an item of
food infected with bacteria they accumulate the pathogen with in
their esophagus or digestive system.

Due to a house files feeding habit of regurgitating their stomach

contents into solid objects to liquefy them, any bacteria living in
their esophagus will be transmitted to the item they are consuming.
Similarly the bacteria living within their digestive system will be
transmitted to items which they defecate on through their faces.

Areas where these products are found, the items themselves, as well
as their preferred breeding sites, can often play host to the
pathogens which causes the diseases. Because of this house flies can
accumulate the bacteria on the tiny hairs on their legs and body.
When a fly lands on a food product, or any other item, any pathogen
which has attached itself to said hairs can easily be transmitted.

House flies privation

Fill a glass jar with apple cider vinegar and place a paper funnel in
the jar. The scent will attract flies and the paper funnel will prevent
them from flying out. Put several drops of Eucalyptus oil ribbon or
cloth strip and hang them near door or windows.

-By Vaibhav kore

 Housefly

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum : Arthropoda
Class : Insecta
Order : Diptera
Family : Muscidae
Genus : Musca
Species : M. domestica