When do flies mate

The house fly is the most common fly found in and around homes. It has a worldwide distribution and is prominent in the United States.

House flies are not only nuisance pests while buzzing around homes, but they are potential disease carriers. House flies have short lifespans, but they can quickly reproduce in large numbers, leading to large house fly populations if not identified and effectively controlled.

House flies are usually gray in appearance and display four black stripes on their thorax. They have slightly hairy bodies, a single pair of wings and compound red eyes, which contain thousands of individual lenses that allow them to have wider vision.

Female house flies are usually larger than males. House flies do not have teeth or a stinger. House fly eggs resemble small grains of rice. Maggots are cream colored with a greasy appearance.

When entering the pupal stage, maggots develop dark, hard outer shells, legs and wings, ultimately emerging as full-grown adult flies. The most common sign of a house fly infestation is the presence of the flies, themselves. Larvae may also be seen crawling out of their breeding material as they pupate. Along with seeing house flies, people may hear them around the home. House flies produce a buzzing sounds which is a result of their two wings beating together.

Close-up photo of house fly eyes. Photo of a house fly or close relative on a leaf. Other nuisance species, like stable and cluster flies, lay eggs outside. These flies may cause problems with their feeding habits or simply by appearing in large numbers. Removing their preferred habitats can stop these pests from multiplying.

Because they feed on earthworms as larvae, cluster fly eggs appear in soil outdoors. When these pests mature into adults, they sometimes fly to search out overwinter sites in homes and may emerge into living spaces. When they sense it is time to end their overwintering diapause, they resume their flying activity once again.

Stable flies lay their eggs in animal waste, rotting vegetation wastes, and other decaying matter. Females require blood to develop eggs, so they may bite livestock or people. Stopping flies from breeding is the first step in controlling infestations.

To prevent fly eggs from developing, keep kitchens clean and free of old produce and trash. Closing doors and windows promptly and fitting them with tight fitting screens also may help. Researchers at Chungnam National University studied housefly courtship and mating practices and discovered that males preferred to mate with large 7-day-old females. It might sound as if finding a female would be an easy task, but some males mistakenly target other males or even inanimate objects. The female uses her ovipositor to make a hole in the manure, garbage or other decaying material she has selected and releases her fertilized eggs.

She expels up to eggs at one time and can lay over the course of three or four days. The maggots feed on the manure, garbage or other organic material for about five days, and then form pupae, hard shells that protect them as they transform into mature flies. After four days an adult housefly emerges from each pupa.

So the researchers used a rather ingenious and inexpensive tool to affix them in their sex positions: one of the authors used her own hair strands to lasso the flies together by their necks. The Waze-like system is hundreds of millions of years old. Brighstoneus simmondsi has a big lump around the nostrils, like a chunky alligator. The harsh, unpredictable sound shares features of mammal and bird alarm calls.

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