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Housefly
A female housefly
Conservation status
Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Diptera Family: Muscidae Genus: Musca Species: M. domestica
Binomial name
Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758

The housefly (also house fly or house-fly), Musca domestica, is the most common fly occurring in homes, the most familiar of all flies and indeed one of the most widely distributed animals; it is a pest that can carry and transmit serious diseases. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ... Orders Subclass Apterygota Archaeognatha (bristletails) Thysanura (silverfish) Subclass Pterygota Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass Neoptera Superorder Exopterygota Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Dermaptera (earwigs) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Psocoptera... For other uses, see Fly (disambiguation) and Flies (disambiguation). ... The family Muscidae is found in the order Diptera. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 13, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Cover of the tenth edition of Linnaeuss Systema Naturae (1758). ... For other uses, see Fly (disambiguation) and Flies (disambiguation). ... Larval form of some beetle is damaging specimen of Sceliphron destillatorius in entomogical collection. ...

Physical description

The adults are 5-8 mm long. Their thorax is gray, with four dark longitudinal lines on the back, the underside of their abdomen is yellow, and their whole body is covered with hair. The females are slightly larger than the males and have a much larger space between their red compound eyes. A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... Diagram of a tsetse fly, showing the head, thorax and abdomen The thorax is a division of an animals body that lies between the head and the abdomen. ... Compound eye of a dragonfly Compound eye of Antarctic krill as imaged by an electron microscope A compound eye is a visual organ found in certain arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. ...

Like most Diptera (meaning "two-winged"), houseflies have only one pair of wings; the hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid in flight stability. Characteristically, the media vein (M1+2 or fourth long vein of the wing) shows a sharp upward bend. For other uses, see Fly (disambiguation) and Flies (disambiguation). ... Wing structure of a dragonfly (family Gomphidae) Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. ... Halteres, (singular halter or haltere) from the Greek word for dumbbells, are small knobbed structures homologous to wings and flapped to maintain stability when flying. ... For other uses, see Flight (disambiguation). ... Wing structure of a dragonfly (family Gomphidae) Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. ...

Species that appear similar to the housefly include:

• The lesser house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller, more slender, and the media vein is straight
• The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, has piercing mouthparts and the media vein is only slightly curved

These houseflies are subjects of study by scientists all over the world. Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1761) The lesser house fly Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fannia canicularis Categories: | ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Stomoxys calcitrans is commonly called the stable fly or dog fly. ... The mouthparts of arthropods have evolved into a number of forms, each adapted to a different style of feeding. ...

Life cycle

Each female fly can lay over 9,000 eggs. The eggs are white and are about 1.2 mm in length. Within a day, the larvae (maggots) hatch from the eggs; they live and feed in (usually dead and decaying) organic material, such as garbage or faeces. They are pale whitish, 3-9 mm long, thinner at the mouth end, and have no legs. 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 half a month 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 the result of insufficient food during the larval stage. In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. ... Look up maggot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Rabbit feces are usually 0. ... An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each molt. ... Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) pupa A pupa (Latin pupa for doll, pl: pupae or pupas) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. ... A Pieris rapae larva An older Pieris rapae larva A Pieris rapae pupa A Pieris rapae adult Metamorphosis is a process in biology by which an individual physically develops after birth or hatching, and involves significant change in form as well as growth and differentiation. ...

Some 36 hours after having emerged from the pupa, the female is receptive for mating. The male mounts her from behind to inject sperm. Normally the female mates only once, storing the sperm to use it repeatedly for 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. For other uses, see Sperm (disambiguation). ...

Housefly pupae killed by parasitic wasp larvae. Each pupa has one hole through which a single adult wasp emerged; feeding occurs during the wasp's larva stage.

The flies depend on warm temperatures; generally, the warmer the temperature the faster the flies will develop. In the winter, most of them survive in the larval or pupa stage in some protected warm location. Image File history File links Housefly_pupae_killed_by_wasp_larvae. ... Image File history File links Housefly_pupae_killed_by_wasp_larvae. ... For other uses, see Winter (disambiguation). ...

Some species of wasps can parasitise and kill the pupae. For other uses, see Wasp (disambiguation). ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ...

Houseflies can take in only liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to pre-digest it, and then suck it back in. They also vomit partially digested matter and eat it again. For the band, see Saliva (band). ...

The flies can walk on vertical planes, and can even hang upside down from ceilings. This is accomplished with the surface tension of liquids secreted by glands near their feet. Surface tension is an effect within the surface layer of a liquid that causes that layer to behave as an elastic sheet. ... Human submaxillary gland. ...

Flies continually preen themselves, cleaning their eyes with their forelegs and dusting off their legs by rubbing them together. They do this because most of their taste and smell receptors are on the hairs of their legs.

Flies have a very highly-evolved evasion reaction which helps to ensure their survival. It is possible to confuse a fly's evasion system by swatting it with two objects simultaneously from different directions. The holes in a fly swatter minimise the air current which warns the fly of being hit, whilst reducing air resistance and increasing speed of the swat. This evasion reaction can also be used against the fly. Clapping your hands several inches above the fly will cause it to try to escape, usually into your just closing hands. A successful method of removing flies from living spaces is to use a vacuum cleaner equipped with a long (1m/3 feet) straight tube at the end of a flexible hose. Airborne flies can be chased with the tube and will eventually be sucked into it. Standing flies can be approached slowly with the tube (1cm/half-an-inch per second) and often they will not fly away and will be sucked into it. Another method of killing a fly is to hypnotise it^{[citation needed]} with the index and pinky finger while creating a spring-like tension in between the middle finger and thumb. The fly will be motionless and unable to fly away. Use this time wisely and release the tension between the middle finger and thumb, projecting the fly about 5 meters. The fly will be in shock for about 10 seconds before it regains consciousness, so ensure you watch where you flick is as it may still be alive. . Please categorize this article so that others may find this article from other articles in the same categories. ... Regular canister vacuum cleaner for home use. ...

Houseflies release a pheromone called muscalure that serves both aggregation and sexual attraction purposes. Fanning honeybee exposes Nasonov gland (white-at tip of abdomen) releasing pheromone to entice swarm into an empty hive A pheromone is a chemical that triggers an innate behavioural response in another member of the same species. ... School of juvenile herring - many fish have the opercula wide open for ram feeding and you can see the red gills The term swarm (schooling or swarming) is applied to fish, birds and insects and describes a behavior of an aggregation (school) of animals of similar size and body orientation... In a species that reproduces sexually, sexual attraction is an attraction to other members of the same species for sexual or erotic activity. ...

Illustration of a housefly

The 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 exists 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an organism. ... Kaguya is one success from 460 attempts at growing embryos. ... A haplodiploid species is one in which one of the sexes has haploid cells (cells containing one copy of each chromosome) and the other has diploid cells (cells containing two copies of each chromosome). ... For other uses, see Species (disambiguation). ... Orders Subclass Apterygota Archaeognatha (bristletails) Thysanura (silverfish) Subclass Pterygota Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass Neoptera Superorder Exopterygota Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Dermaptera (earwigs) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Psocoptera... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including milk producing sweat glands, and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

Evolution

Even though the order of flies (Diptera) is much older, true houseflies evolved in the beginning of the Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago. They are thought to have originated in the southern Palearctic region, particularly the Middle East. Because of their close, commensal relationship with man, they probably owe their worldwide dispersal to co-migration with humans. [1][2] Suborders Nematocera (includes Eudiptera) Brachycera Diptera (di - two, ptera - wings), or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. ... The Cenozoic Era (pronounced ); sometimes Caenozoic Era or Cainozoic Era (in the United Kingdom), meaning new life (Greek (kainos), new, and (zoe), life), is the most recent of the three classic geological eras. ... The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth surface (see map). ... Common Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) in their magnificent sea anemone (Heteractis magnifica) home. ...

Flies and humans

In colder climates, houseflies occur only with humans. They have a tendency to aggregate and are difficult to dispel. They are capable of carrying over 100 pathogens, such as typhoid, cholera, Salmonella, bacillary dysentery, tuberculosis, anthrax, ophthalmia, and parasitic worms. The flies in poorer and lower-hygiene areas usually carry more pathogens. Some strains have become immune to most common insecticides. A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. ... This is about the disease typhoid fever. ... Cholera (or Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera) is an extreme diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. ... Species S. enterica This article is about the bacteria. ... Shigellosis, also known as bacillary dysentery in its most severe manifestation, is a foodborne illness caused by infection by bacteria of the genus Shigella. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Ophthalmia means inflammation of the eye. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Hygiene refers to practices associated with ensuring good health and cleanliness. ... It has been suggested that ovicide be merged into this article or section. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Musca domestica

Wikispecies has information related to:

Musca domestica

• Housefly from the University of Florida
• Many annotated images
• Article on the housefly, by Anthony DeBartolo, Chicago Tribune
• From The Straight Dope website:
  • How does a fly land upside down on the ceiling?
  • Why flies rub their hands together
  • If I hadn't killed 52 flies as a child, how many descendants would they have had by now?
• Dübendorfer A, Hediger M, Burghardt G, Bopp D. Musca domestica, a window on the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms in insects. Int J Dev Biol. 2002, 46(1):75-9.
• Brian M. Wiegmann, David K. Yeates, Jeffrey L. Thorne, Hirohisa Kishino Time Flies, a New Molecular Time-Scale for Brachyceran Fly Evolution Without a Clock. Systematic Biology. 2003, 52(6):745-756
• Pictorial presentation of life-cycle
• The House Fly and How to Suppress It, by L. O. Howard and F. C. Bishopp. U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 1408, 1928, from Project Gutenberg