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 Everybody is quite familiar with flies. They seem to be everywhere-and they really are! Flies are really quite amazing. Some common types can reach sustained speeds of 45 MPH, and some are capable of speed bursts reaching 60 MPH. Flies are of the order Diptera, which is Greek for "two-winged". There are about 80,000 types in this order, ranging from small gnats and midges through
house flies and up to mosquitoes. The wings can move very rapidly with an up-and-down motion 200 times per second. This rapid motion frequently leads to a humming or buzzing sound. Adult house flies vary in length from 3/16" to 5/16" long and are light gray in color with four dark stripes on the back of the thorax (the segment right behind the head with the legs and wings attached). The head is dominated by large red-brown compound eyes which are surrounded by a light gold stripe and the female is usually larger than the male. They have adapted well to domestic environments, and are by far the most common fly. Although adult house flies may migrate to non infested areas up to 20 miles away, most stay within one to two miles of their birthplace. Adult flies will feed on foods ranging from excrement to human food. Additionally, they have been associated with a great number of filth-related diseases. Females will lay their eggs in a variety of moist, rotting, fermenting, organic matter including animal manure, accumulated grass clippings, garbage, spilled animal feeds and soil contaminated with any of the above items.
Life Cycle:
Females may lay more than 500 eggs in their lifetime. These eggs will hatch within a day and under optimum conditions they can complete their life cycle in as few as eight days. Fly larvae are worm-like creatures popularly referred to as "maggots." They have no head or appendages, and go through three instars in a week or less. At the end of the larvae stage, they form a hard cell called a "puparium," from which the adult fly emerges in 4-6 days. Adults live from 2-3 weeks, and can produce 10-12 generations in one summer.
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