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Australian Wildlife

  Housefly (Musca domestica)





Housefly | Musca domestica photo
Housefly

Image by Kamranki - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







HOUSEFLY FACTS

Identification
The Housefly is the most common fly in homes, and one of the most widely distributed insects in the world. The Housefly has four narrow black stripes running along the thorax. The abdomen is gray or yellowish with a dark midline and irregular dark markings on the sides. The male is yellowish on the underside. The male eyes almost meet in the middle while female has wider spaced eyes.

Size
length 6mm to 7mm

Food
Houseflies feed on liquid foods. They pump saliva on to solid foods to predigest it and then suck it back in.

Breeding
The female lays eggs in batches of about 75 to 150 eggs. The eggs are white and juts over 1mm long. The eggs hatch after a day and the white maggots feed in dead and decaying organic matter such as garbage or faeces. At maturity, the maggots crawl to a cool dry place to pupate, transforming into reddish or brown pupae about 8 mm long. The adult flies emerge from the pupae.



Classification
Class:Insecta
Order:Diptera
Family:Muscidae
Genus:Musca
Species:domestica
Common Name:Housefly