SHIRINBAI NETERWALA SCHOOL

Maneck Nagar, Tumsar

Department of Biology
(Science)
A
Project Report
On

Study of the developmental stage of houseflies

Submitted By:
Miss Riya Sawalakhe
Class XII – (Science)

Guided By:
Mr. Yuvraj Sonewane
 SHIRINBAI NETERWALA SCHOOL
Maneck Nagar, Tumsar

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Miss Riya Sawalakhe

completed his/her practical work for class 12-

Science of subject Biology (044) during the

academic year 2022-2023 prescribed by CBSE

Board under the supervision of Mr. Yuvraj

Sonewane.

Guided By External Examiner Principal

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude towards our

biology teacher Mr. Yuvraj Sonewane sir as well as our lab assistant
Mr. M.S. Chandel sir who helped me with the project on the topic
study of the developmental stage of houseflies while researching
the project I came to know about some new things due which my
knowledge regarding this topic is also increased. This is only because
of the teachers who gave me this amazing project, I am thankful to
them.

I am drafting this project not only for good marks but it is also to
increase my creativity, and skill in doing the project and to enhance my
knowledge about this topic

I also want to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks to our

principal Mr.P Bimal sir hasting for this encouragement and for all
facilities that he provides for this project.
CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. EXPERIMENT
• Aim
• Materials Required
• Experimental Procedure
3. OBSERVATION
A. Developmental Stages of Housefly
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION

Insects constitute the largest class of animals representing over

7,50,000 species. They are the most successful land invertebrates and
the only major competitors to humans for dominance in the world.
Today, the life of every human being is affected by insects in one way
or the other. Quite a several insect varieties are closely connected with
some of our diseases like malaria, cholera, plague, etc., and with our
day-to-day life. Housefly (Musca nebula) and Cockroach (Periplaneta
Americana) are two such insects that affect human life the most.

Houseflies have been pursuing mankind throughout all of recorded

history, and probably from the time man emerged from his caves and
began to walk erect Houseflies are cosmopolitan in distribution and are
intimately associated with human life. Hence, they are found in all
places of human dwelling. They remain active in all seasons except
winters. They neither bite nor sting us, yet we hate them for their
unsanitary habit.

Houseflies spread several communicable diseases like cholera, typhoid,

dysentery, etc. Indeed flies are probably responsible for more deaths
among humans than any perceived atrocities we may have misguidedly
thrust upon them.

Cockroaches are also cosmopolitan in distribution and are found in such

places as human dwellings, where darkness, warmth, dampness, and
plenty of organic debris are available. Thus, one can easily find these
hidden in our kitchens, sewers, warehouse, railway compartments,
ships, etc.
Cockroaches are nocturnal and omnivorous. They come out of their
hiding places during the night in search of food. Cockroaches harm us
by chewing our clothes, books, and leather wares when normal food is
scanty.

EXPERIMENT

AIM:

Keeping in view the huge impact that these insects have on the lives of
humans, the study of the developmental stages of the insect Housefly
has been selected for this project.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

Preserved specimens of different developmental stages of houseflies

/cockroaches, notebook, pen, etc.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:

Get the preserved specimen of different developmental stages of

houseflies and observe the stages. Note down your observations in the
notebook.

OBSERVATION

A. Developmental Stages of Housefly (Musca nebula):

The body structure of a Housefly

 Life history of a Housefly

The housefly (also housefly, house-fly, or common housefly), Musca

domestica, is a Diptera of the Brachycera suborder. It is the most
common of all domestic flies, accounting for about 90% of all flies in
human habitations, and indeed one of the most widely distributed
insects, found all over the world; it is considered a pest that can carry
serious diseases.

The adults are 8–12 mm long. Their thorax is gray, with four
longitudinal dark lines on the back. The underside of their abdomen
is yellow [citation needed], and their whole body is covered with
hair-like projections. The females are slightly larger than the males
and have a much larger space between their red compound eyes.
The mass of pupae can range from about 8 to 20 mg under different
conditions.
Like other Diptera (meaning "two-winged"), houseflies have only one
pair of wings; the hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid in
flight stability. caterpillars (M1+2 or fourth long vein of the wing)
show a sharp upward bend.
Species that appear similar to the housefly include:
• The lesser house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller, and
more slender, and the media vein is straight.
• The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, has piercing mouthparts and
the media vein is only slightly curved.

Life cycle
Each female fly can lay approximately 500 eggs in several batches of
about 75 to 150. The eggs are white and are about 1.2 mm in length.
Within a day, larvae (maggots) hatch from the eggs; they live and
feed in (usually dead and decaying) organic material, such as garbage
or feces. They are pale-whitish, 3–9 mm long, thinner at the mouth
end, and have no legs. They live for at least one week. At the end of
their third instar, the maggots crawl to a dry cool place and
transform into pupae, colored reddish or brown and about 8 mm
long. The adult flies then emerge from the pupae. (This whole cycle
is known as complete metamorphosis.) The adults live from two
weeks to a month in the wild, or longer in benign laboratory
conditions. After having emerged from the pupae, the flies cease to
grow; small flies are not young flies but are indeed the result of
getting insufficient food during the larval stage.
Some 36 hours after having emerged from the pupa, the female is
receptive to mating. The male mounts her from behind to inject
sperm. Copulation takes between a few seconds to a couple of
minutes.
Normally the female mates only once, storing the sperm to use it
repeatedly for laying several sets of eggs. Males are territorial: they
will defend a certain territory against other males and will attempt
to mount any females that enter that territory
The flies depend on warm temperatures; generally, the warmer the
temperature the faster the flies will develop. In winter, most of them
survive in the larval or the pupa stage in some protected warm
location.

Diet
Houseflies feed on feces, open sores, sputum, and moist decaying
organic matter such as spoiled food, eggs, and flesh. Houseflies can
take in only liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to
predigest it and then suck it back in. They also regurgitate partly
digested matter and pass it again to the abdomen.

Sex determination
A housefly is an object of biological research, mainly because of one
remarkable quality: the sex determination mechanism. Although a
wide variety of sex-determination mechanisms exist in nature (e.g.
male and female heterogamy, haplodiploidy, environmental factors)
the way sex is determined is usually fixed within one species.
However, the housefly exhibits many different mechanisms for sex
determination, such as male heterogamy (like most insects and
mammals), female heterogamy (like birds), and maternal control
over offspring sex. This makes the housefly one of the most suitable
species to study the evolution of sex determination
Evolution
Even though the order of flies (Diptera) is much older, true
houseflies are believed to have evolved at the beginning of the
Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago. House flies feed on liquid or
semi-liquid substances besides solid material which has been
softened by saliva or vomit. Because of their high intake of food,
they deposit feces constantly, one of the factors that make the
insect a dangerous carrier of pathogens. Although they are domestic
flies, usually confined to human habitations, they can fly for several
miles from the breeding place. They are active only in the daytime
and rest at night e.g. at the corners of rooms, ceiling hangings, etc

Housefly as a vector of disease

Mechanical transmission of organisms on its hairs, mouthparts,
vomitus, and feces:
• parasitic diseases: cysts of protozoa e.g. Entamoeba histolytica,
Giardia lamblia, and eggs of helminths e.g.: Ascaris lumbricoides,
Trichuros Trichur, Haemenolypes nana, Enterobius vermicularis.
• bacterial diseases: typhoid, cholera, dysentery, pyogenic
cocci...etc. House flies have been demonstrated to be vectors of
Campylobacter and E. coli O157:H7 using PCR. House flies can be
monitored for bacterial pathogens using filter paper spot cards and
PCR
• Viruses: enteroviruses: poliomyelitis, infective hepatitis (A & E),
etc.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

❖ Comprehensive Laboratory Manual in Biology for CBSE Class 12 by

Dr.J.P.Sharma.
❖ Encyclopedia – A Ready Reference to everything
❖ Websites:

www.en.wikipedia.org

www.google.co.in

www.howstuffworks.com

❖ The sweet mind of Mahendranath R