Details
Musca domestica
The common housefly is a cosmopolitan fly closely tied to people and livestock. It flies by day and laps liquid organic food.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It occurs in cities, farms, and grasslands across the Palearctic, the Nearctic, the Afrotropics, the Indomalayan region, the Neotropics, Australasia. Human and livestock environments provide abundant food and breeding sites.
Length 0.5-0.8 cm; weight 0.008 g-0.02 g. The gray thorax has dark lengthwise stripes, and a single pair of clear wings powers flight. The mouthparts lap liquids rather than pierce.
Diurnal and loosely aggregated, it gathers around food and breeding sites. It alternates short flights with landings and responds strongly to odors.
An omnivore, it uses decaying organic matter, food, feces, and sugary liquids. Saliva helps liquefy solid food before it is lapped up.
Females lay eggs in manure or other decaying material that will feed larvae. Maggots grow there, pupate, and emerge as adults.
It is listed as Least Concern, though local populations can still be affected by habitat change, collection, or pollution.
