MUSCA (HOUSE FLY)

MUSCA (HOUSE FLY)

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Section: Schizophora
Family: Muscidae
Genus: Musca
Species: M. domestica
• One of the most familiar
and widely distributed of
all insects.

• Scientists have calculated

that a pair of flies
beginning reproduction in
April may be progenitors,
under optiminal conditions
and if all were to live, of
191,010,000,000,000,000
,000 flies by August.
STRUCTURE
The housefly (Musca domestica) is the most common
of all domestic flies. The body of housefly is distinguished
into head, thorax and abdomen. The head is hemispherical
in shape and bears two lateral compound eyes. Three
simple eyes (ocelli) are also present on dorsal side of the
head. Two small and mobile antennae are present in the
head region. The thorax is formed of three segments
prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax. Each thoracic
segment bears a pair of lateral legs. Mesothorax bears a
pair of wings and prothorax bears a pair of spiracles, close
to the wings.
• The abdomen is made up of ten segments. The first
remains undeveloped; the second and 6-10 segments
are very small. Segments 3-5 are normal. In females
these segments form ovipositor to help in
reproduction. In the males, the last abdominal
segment serves as an external genitalia and the 9th
segment bears a pair of claspers for copulation. The
abdomen bears spiracles for respiration in both males
and females. The last segment bears anal cerci in both
males and females.
• The mouthparts of housefly are of ‘sponging type’ i.e.
these are adapted for sucking liquid or semi-liquid
food like a sponge.
MOUTH PARTS OF HOUSEFLY
 MOUTH PARTS OF HOUSEFLY
Housefly mouth parts arc of sponging and sucking
type.
• In Housefly, labium is modified into proboscis.The
proboscis consists of 3 parts.
• Proximal - rostrum
• Middle - Haustcllum
• Distal - Labellum
• The rostrum distally articulated with haustellum by
hinge joint.
MOUTH PARTS OF HOUSEFLY
Aristate Antenna
In the Diptera (housefly ),
membranous wings
there are only one pair of
functional wings, with the
posterior pair of wings are
reduced to halteres,
which help the fly to sense
its orientation and
movement, as well as to
improve balance.

halteres
 Legs
• Also attached to the thorax are the
three pairs of legs, each made up of
five segments.
• Leg of a house fly showing femur,
tibia and five segmented tarsis with
an enlargement of the tip of the
tarsus showing claws and sticky pads
(pulvilli).
• At the tip of the tarsus is a pair of
claws with a fleshy pad (pulvillus) by
each. The pulvilli are bladder-like
with tiny glandular hairs causing a
sticky surface which enables the fly
to cling to surfaces, even upside
down.
The abdomen of Musca
(House fly )
 The ovipositor of House fly
• House fly have a
different version of the
ovipositor.
• The last few abdominal
segment telescope into
the larger anterior
abdominal segments
except when the fly is
laying eggs. Then these
segment are extended.
 Life cycle

• Copulation:
Houseflies copulate in summers and rainy season during March
to October, but most frequently during August and September.
• Oviposition:
Four to five days after copulation, the female fly starts laying
fertilized ova (eggs). Eggs are laid in small clusters inside
semisolid decaying matter such as dung, horse manure, human
excreta, decaying fruits and vegetables etc., about a centimeter
deep from the surface. About 100 to 150 eggs are laid at a time.
About 500 to 600 eggs are laid by a single female in 4 to 6
installments during its life span of about a month.
 Life cycle
• Complete metamorphosis.

• Female lay eggs.

• Egg hatch to give larva (maggot).

• Maggot transform into pupa.

• Adult emerge from pupa.

Life cycle
Life cycle
 Eggs
• White eggs, about 1.2 mm in length,
• Laid singly.
• Each female fly can lay up to 500 eggs in
several batches of about 75 to 150 eggs, each
over a three to four day period
• The number of eggs produced is a function of
female size, which is principally a result of
larval nutrition.
Eggs
 Larva
• The mature larva is 3 to 9 mm long, typical
creamy whitish in color, cylindrical but
tapering toward the head
• The head contains one pair of dark hooks
• Legless
• The posterior spiracles are slightly raised and
the spiracular openings are sinuous slits which
are completely surrounded by an oval black
border.
• feed on and develop in the material (organic
material) where the eggs were laid.
• The larvae go through three instars
• When the maggots are full-grown, they crawl
up to 50 feet to a dried, cool place near
breeding material and transform to the pupal
stage.
Musca larva
 Pupa

• The pupae are dark brown and 8 mm long.

• The pupal stage is passed in a pupal case

formed from the last larval skin which varies in
color from yellow, red, brown, to black as the
pupa ages
Musca pupa
• Metamorphosis:
The series of changes that occur during the development of adult from the
larva is called metamorphosis. The metamorphosis in housefly involves
drastic changes as the young forms of housefly (maggot and pupa) are
quite different from the adult.
• The imago:
The freshly liberated imago is colourless. Its wings are small and
immobile. Due to exposure to air, the wings soon become hard and fully
spread out. Gradually, the normal colour is also attained by the body. In
about 15 to 20 days, the new fly itself starts reproducing.
Housefly is a harmful insect as it carries the pathogen of a number of
dangerous and infectious diseases of man. The houseflies carry many
pathogenic micro-organisms like bacteria, protozoans and their spores.
Some very dangerous and even fatal diseases, spread by houseflies are
dysentery, anthrax, diarrhoea, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera etc. Housefly
causes myiasis in man; they invade human tissues and lay their eggs in
these tissues. The diseases caused by housefly can be managed by
preventing houseflies from breeding and disease dissemination.
 Adult
• Adult house fly is 6 to 7 mm long.
• The eyes are reddish.
• It has an aristate antenna.
• A house fly has a sponging mouthpart. The sponging
mouthpart is modified into a flattened, rounded
structure used for sapping and sponging liquid and
semi-liquid food.
• Thorax is gray, with four dark longitudinal dark lines
on the back
• There are three pairs of walking up-side down
legs.

• Their whole body is covered with hair.

• houseflies have only one pair of wings; the

hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid
in flight stability.
he difference between male & female
house fly
• The females are slightly larger than the males.
• Females have a much larger space between
their red compound eyes.