2.2 House Fly Identification
The common House fly is medium sized (1/6 to 1/4 inch long. The common house fly is a pest all over the world. The adult has the fourth wing vein sharply angled and four length-wise dark stripes on the top of the thorax. Its face has two velvety stripes which are silver above and gold below. The female fly has a much wider space between the eyes than the male. The house fly is often confused with the face fly which also infests structures. The face fly is similar in appearance, but a little larger and darker than the House Fly.
2.3 House Fly Biology & Habits
Each adult female begins laying eggs a few days after hatching, laying a total of five to six batches of 75 to 100 small white oval eggs. In warm weather these hatch in 12 to 24 hours into cream-colored larvae, which burrow into the food material on which they hatched. These larvae grow and pupate in 4 to 7 days in warm weather. The mature larva contracts until its skin forms a case about 1/4 inch long. Inside this case, the true pupa forms. When fully formed, the adult fly breaks open the end of the pupal case and emerges. It is ready to mate within in a few hours after merging. The hardened larval skin, which is left behind still exhibits most of the characteristics which are used in larval identification; thus determination can
…show more content…
The common house fly is a pest all over the world. The adult has the fourth wing vein sharply angled and four lengthwise dark stripes on the top of the thorax. Its face has two velvety stripes, which are silver above and gold below(Dame et al., 2002). The female fly has a much wider space between the eyes than the male. The house fly is often confused with the face fly, which also infests structures. The face fly is similar in appearance, but a little larger and darker than the House Fly.(Tvedten, n.d.)
2.5.1 External