Flies
About Flies
Flies can be a nuisance when buzzing around your premises, particularly if in large numbers. However, some species of fly also pose health risks to humans. House flies transmit a wide range of diseases including salmonella, dysentery, tuberculosis, cholera, and parasitic worms. In India, there is a high risk of disease transmission through flies. During emergency situations, when hygiene conditions are less than optimal, flies often are the main reason for cholera and dysentery epidemics. But even under normal conditions, children and the elderly are at a greater risk of conducting more common diseases such as salmonella food poisoning from fly contaminated food.
Flies spread diseases because of their breeding and feeding habits. Bacteria from where the fly usually feeds on would get stuck on their mouthparts and footpads eventually spreading onto places they land on. Imagine if it’s exposed to food that you are about to eat.
However, there are simple ways you can identify signs of a fly infestation and take simple precautions because it has the potential to turn into a serious infestation if left uncontrolled.
Flies typically hatch outside and then make their way into our homes through structural weak spots, such as damaged weather stripping or torn screens covering windows and doors. Around the home, flies can lay their eggs in garbage cans, compost piles, excrement, and rotting organic material. Female flies can lay between 75 to 150 eggs at a time, which if compressed together only adds up to roughly the size of a pea, making them extremely difficult to identify.
Houseflies are widespread because they reproduce quickly and in large numbers. At times, they have been known to move up to 20 miles from where they were hatched, but they usually stay within one mile of their birthplace. Fruit flies, another common fly type, are usually found within the home because of their attraction to food waste like overripe or rotten produce. They typically enter the house as hitchhikers on produce and other food brought in from the outside. Horseflies are not commonly found inside and do not feed indoors, but sometimes enter homes by accident through open windows and doors.
Types of Flies
House Fly
Bluebottle Fly
Fruit Fly
Flesh Fly
Drain Fly
House Fly
Fruit Fly
Drain Fly
Bluebottle Fly
Flesh Fly
Sarcophagidae is a family of flies commonly known as flesh flies. They differ from most flies in that they are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals, hence their common name
Flesh Fly
Appearance
- 6-14mm long.
- Thorax is light grey and has 3 dark longitudinal stripes.
- The abdomen is also light grey, spotted with dark patches to give a checkerboard appearance.
Lifecycle
- The lifecycle lasts for 2-4 weeks.
- The female deposits live larvae on a suitable feeding medium (this can range from spoilt meat or fish, or animal excrement, or in decaying food waste found in garbage bins).
- Larvae feed for a few days, then move away from the feeding medium to pupate in adjacent drier parts.
Habits
- They are attracted to decaying wastes, excrement and human foods – making a threat to human health.
Bluebottle flies (Calliphora vomitoria)(also known as Blowfly) can often be seen hovering around dustbins. These scavengers are attracted to pet feces and dead animals and as such are known carriers of the disease.
Their name originates from their iridescent colors that are similar to colored bottles.
Bluebottle Fly
Key Facts
- Adult is 1/4″ – 1/2″ in length.
- Metallic blue colour.
- Larva — Similar to the house fly larva in all respects except size. 3/4″ when mature. They take 7 – 12 days to mature.
Lifecycle
- Eggs hatch 0 – 18 hrs (partial development may occur within the female).
- Breeds in mostly meat derived substances, sometimes cheese.
- Common pest of dead rodents/birds etc.
Habits
- They are attracted to decaying wastes, excrement and human foods – making a threat to human health.
House flies (Musca domestica) are major carriers of disease and can infest all types of premises. They are attracted to all types of food, including human food, pet food, animal feed, food waste, and even feces. Seeing adult flies is usually the most common sign of activity and a potential problem. Larvae may also be seen as they crawl out of breeding material to pupate.
House Fly
Key Facts
- An adult is 5–8mm in length.
- Grey thorax with 4 narrow stripes.
- Buff or yellow abdomen.
- Covered with small hairs that serve as taste organs.
- Complex compound eyes – with thousands of lenses allows them a wide field of vision.
- 4th wing vein bent and wingtips slightly pointed.
- The larva is white and tapers to a point at the head end. There are 2 spiracles “spots” at the hind end, which is legless and 12 mm in length when mature.
Lifecycle
House flies are able to quickly mature from an egg to an adult. They breed in moist decaying vegetable matter eg. in an uncovered dustbin or pet food.
- Eggs are laid in batches of 120 to 150 and can hatch in 8 – 72 hours.
- The larvae of House Flies can take 3 – 60 days to mature.
- Pupae matures in 3 – 28 days.
Habits
- They are attracted to decaying wastes, excrement and human foods – making a threat to human health.
Fruit flies (Drosophila species) are commonly found infesting fruit or hovering around fermenting residues found in pubs, fruit orchards & vegetable plots, and breweries
Fruit Fly
Key Facts
- 3mm in length.
- Yellow–brown or mottled in colour.
- Bright red eyes.
- Abdomen hangs down in flight, which is slow.
- Tend to hover.
Lifecycle
- They can breed in rotten fruit, unclean drains, and even cleaning utensils.
- Develops to adults in 7–30 days.
- Adult lives 2–9 weeks.
- In ideal temperature conditions, fruit flies can complete their development in as little as 1 week.
Habits
- They are attracted to decaying wastes, excrement and human foods – making a threat to human health.
Drain (Psychodidae) flies are often associated with sewage beds, where larvae feed on sludge-like organic matter. They are also known by a variety of names; drain fly, sewage fly, and moth fly are a few examples.
Drain Fly
Key Facts
- 2mm in length.
- Tan colored body appears as grey.
- Wings densely covered in hair and held tent-like over the body when at rest.
Lifecycle
- Eggs hatch 1-6 days.
- Larvae 10–50 days to mature.
- Pupae 1–3 days to mature.
Habits
- They are attracted to decaying wastes, excrement and human foods – making a threat to human health.
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