Musca domestica

SPECIES: Musca domestica ( order Diptera )

COMMON NAME: House fly

SIZE: Larva 12 mm; Pupa 6 mm; Adults 5-9 mm;

LIFECYCLE: (egg- larva - pupa - adult) 6 - 8 days under optimum conditions. Generations/year: 12-15 (up to 22); No. eggs/female: 500-600 (up to 2000), in groups of 75-150 eggs every 3-4 days.

FEATURES/HABITAT: The larva is cream-coloured, with a conical form and has no feet. It lives within excreta, manure, waste and plant material in fermentation, as long as they are sufficiently hot and humid. They then wriggle to a dry environment, not far from the area where they feed, to become pupa. This latter stage, which in reality is not visible because it is inside a brown puparium, is milky white in color and already has the rough shapes of the adult insect. The adult has a grey thorax, with four black longitudinal stripes. The adult likes to be near tips, landfills, and both agricultural and food industries, stables, houses, etc almost anywhere, in fact. Adult house flies have positive phototropism and are attracted to food, moisture, smells, visual and structural contrasts, and shelters that protect them from the weather. The optimum temperature is around 30°C in summer, which results in greater reproductive activity.

DIET: the larva feeds on bacteria and yeasts within the substrates where they live. The pupa uses the reserves accumulated by the larval body to begin the series of biochemical processes that will lead to the formation of the adult. Adults eat all kinds of foodstuffs, including animal excrement and waste.

DAMAGE: The damage is to health: the house fly is a carrier of many diseases. Economic damage is caused by contagious diseases, as well as the loss of food in the agro-food industries; damage to reputations of tourist areas, and decreased productivity on farms due to the harassment of the animals by the flies.

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