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Flies
Flies can be more than a nuisance. Flies carry over 100 pathogens that have been known to cause diseases in humans and animals such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis and more. There are several different types of flies common in New England, including blow flies, fruit flies, phorid flies, cluster flies, moth flies and face flies.
Flies are prolific and reproduce rapidly, a single fly can produce 1 million offspring in as little as six to eight weeks. As a result, it is important to take action to eliminate current infestations and remove conditions conducive to their spread. To learn more about any of these particular types of flies, click on the profiles available for each type below.
Adult blow flies range in size from 1/4 – 1/2 inch in length and have one pair of wings. The colors vary from black, metallic blue, green and yellowish-brown.
What is the Blow Fly Diet?
The blow fly’s diet consists of dead fish, meat, carrion, animal manure, garbage, and rotting vegetable matter.
What is the Blow Fly’s Reproductive Cycle?
The blow fly lays 100 – 180 eggs in their food source. The eggs normally hatch in less than one day. Developing rapidly, the blow fly will reach its adult form in 10 – 20 days.
Where do Blow Flies Live?
Although blow flies seldom cause structural damage, they can be annoying because of their constant buzzing. They are attracted to light, so they are often seen flying around windows.
Similar to the house fly, the cluster fly is 3/8 inch in length and dark, nonmetallic gray. The thorax (the middle body segment where the wings and legs are attached) has yellow or golden hairs.
What is the Cluster Fly’s Diet?
Adult cluster flies feed on flowers, while the young feed on earthworms.
What is the Cluster Fly’s Reproductive Cycle?
After mating in the spring, the female cluster fly lays her eggs in cracks in the soil. Hatching in about 3 days, the maggot will burrow into the body of an earthworm to develop. The developmental time from egg to adult is 27 – 39 days. Cluster flies generally produce 4 generations a year.
Where do Cluster Flies Live?
The cluster fly’s name reflects its behavior of forming clusters before hibernating. Cluster flies are bothersome because they often enter attics and wall voids of structures to over winter, seeking shelter to avoid the cooling temperatures. When temperatures rise, they become active, either leaving the structure or entering the interior.
Adult face flies are about 1/4 inch in length, and they look similar to a house fly. Their color is a dull gray.
What is the Face Fly’s Diet?
Although the preferred food of face flies is the mucus and the watery secretions around the eyes, nose, and mouth of cattle and horses, they will also feed on blood, flower nectar, and dung fluid.
What is the Face Fly Reproductive Cycle?
Female face flies lay their eggs in cow droppings that are new and undisturbed. The eggs can number from 30 – 230, and hatch in 10 – 23 days. From egg to adult, the developmental time averages 17 days.
Where do Face Flies Live?
Face flies are normally seen outdoors from spring to fall. When the temperature is around 60°F female face flies tend to cluster in large numbers around the face of cattle and horses. Adults can also be found around bushes, tall grass, weeds, and fence posts. In the winter, adults seek shelter in such places as attics, wall voids, and basements
Adult fruit flies are about 1/8 inch in length, and the color varies between tan, brownish, or brownish-black. The eyes are normally bright red.
What is the Fruit Fly Diet?
Fruit flies breed and feed in ripened fruits and vegetables as well as moist, decaying organic matter.
What is the Fruit Fly’s Reproductive Cycle?
Adult female fruit flies lay an average of 500 eggs near the surface of fermenting fruits and vegetables. The eggs hatch in approximately 30 hours. The cycle from egg to adult is complete in as little as 8 days.
Where do Fruit Flies Live?
Fruit flies are drawn to fresh fruit and vegetables or where there is plenty of moisture and yeast. They quickly develop in over-ripe fruit, various foods, dirty mops, vegetable bins, floor drains or bottoms of trash cans if there are fermenting liquids.
Adult moth flies are about 1/16 – 1/4 inch in length and range in color from yellowish, brownish-gray to blackish in color. Their wings are shaped similarly to a leaf and have white specks on them. Both the body and the wings are hairy. The antennae are long and fuzzy-looking.
What is the Moth Fly’s Diet?
Moth flies feed on nectar and polluted water.
What is the Moth Fly’s Reproductive Cycle?
The adult female moth fly lays 30 to 100 eggs on the gel-like film inside drains and garbage containers. From the time the egg is laid and the developmental stages it goes through it is about 7 to 28 days before the fly emerges. Generally, the moth fly will remain in the area where it hatched.
Where do Moth Flies Live?
Moth flies are also commonly known as drain flies. Due to their small size, they are able to enter structures through window or door screens. They are poor fliers, so they are usually seen crawling on surfaces.
Phorid flies are small, only about 1/64 – 1/4 inch in length. When viewed from the side, they appear humpbacked. The color ranges from black, brown to yellowish.
What is the Phorid Fly Diet?
Phorid flies most commonly feed on decaying organic matter.
What is the Phorid Fly’s Reproductive Cycle?
The female Phorid fly lays between 1 to 100 eggs in or on the larval food. She can lay up to 749 eggs in her lifetime. The time it takes from egg to adult varies by species, but the average is about 25 days.
Where do Phorid Flies Live?
Phorid flies are frequently found around flowers and moist decaying matter, although they can be found throughout the house. Several species have the common name of the coffin fly, because they breed in human corpses. The larvae breed in a variety of locations, such as dung, fungi, decaying plant matter, and drain pipes.