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The Common Housefly

It seems that every time you get out in the yard for a BBQ, every fly in the county knows your doing it. Next thing you know those pesty things are everywhere. If you grab a fly swatter they tend to leave you alone. Before we grill we spray the whole area with a bug killer and hope for the best.

The housefly is found in nearly every part of the world.

The entire life cycle of the fly in between 7-25 days which means there are many generations produced in one summer. A fly generally lays about 500 eggs, one at a time. When the eggs hatch the larvae are a whitish, legless cylindrical shape. These are maggots and they go through 3 instars or stages. When they are grown they crawl to a cool dry area and transform into the pupal stage. The pupal case is formed from the larval skin and varies is color from yellow to brown. The fly emerges from the case by a shrinking and swelling sac in its head. It is used as a tool to help break out of the case. The adult female is larger than the male, eyes are reddish in color. Males and females can be distinguished by the size of the space between their eyes. The females is nearly doubly the size of the males.

Adult flies eat a variety of foods but can only suck fluids due to their mouth parts. They regurgitate saliva onto the food source changing it to liquid for consumption.

Flies rest at night on branches and bushes or on ceilings.

During the day, flies visit dung, garbage, sewers and carrion where they pick up bacteria and viruses and are therefore able to transmit diseases and parasitic worms to humans. More than 100 pathogens are associated with the fly.

Control is through sanitation, traps and insecticides.

For more information click the link.

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th6a.htm

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