Housefly

Houseflies live almost everywhere people live.

They live on farms, in towns and near homes.

Long ago, houseflies lived in central Asia. As people traveled and settled around the world, houseflies spread too. Today they live on every continent where people live.

Houseflies stay close to people and farm animals. They are common around barns, farms and anywhere waste and old food collect.

UF/IFAS describes the house fly as originating in central Asia and now found globally, and LSU AgCenter says it has spread to all inhabited land masses.

Populations can become very large on poultry, pig, horse and cattle farms, where manure is abundant, and adults gather wherever decaying organic matter accumulates, including livestock barns and poorly managed garbage (LSU AgCenter).

Houseflies eat runny food.

They cannot chew. They soak up their food with a mouth like a little sponge.

A housefly cannot bite or chew. Its mouthparts work like a sponge, soaking up liquid food from surfaces.

Houseflies are scavengers. Both the adults and the young feed on old, rotting plant and animal material, so they help break down waste. That is also why it is a good idea to keep food covered.

Adult mouthparts are adapted for sponging fluid food from surfaces, and house flies do not bite people or animals (LSU AgCenter). Adults and larvae feed on a wide range of decaying organic matter, including rotting animal and vegetable material and animal and human excrement, making them part of the scavenging insect community.

This diet is the root of their medical importance. Moving between waste and human food, house flies can mechanically carry disease-causing organisms on their bodies; LSU AgCenter reports that they can mechanically transmit almost 100 different animal and human infectious diseases.

Houseflies buzz around a lot.

They land, walk around and then fly off again.

Houseflies spend their days flying from place to place, landing to feed and rest. They often gather where there is food for them, such as farms, barns and garbage.

Between flights, houseflies like to rest on the same favorite spots, called perches. An adult fly needs to eat often: without food, it can survive only two or three days.

A female starts laying eggs a few days to a few weeks after mating, and she can lay about 500 in her life. Houseflies can have many generations in one year, so their numbers can grow quickly.

Adults rest on frequently used perches, and LSU AgCenter notes that identifying these perches helps locate the material where flies are breeding. Pupal development is faster in warm conditions, and UF/IFAS notes that the species produces numerous generations a year.

Adults can survive only two to three days without food. Females can begin laying eggs within days of mating, which, combined with batches of 75 to 150 eggs, gives the species its high reproductive potential.

There are lots of houseflies in the world.

Keeping food covered and putting trash in a bin keeps flies away.

Houseflies are not endangered. They are common around the world, and as scavengers they help recycle waste.

People usually want fewer flies around homes and farms. The best way is to keep things clean: cover food, put trash in closed bins, and clean up animal waste. Then flies have fewer places to lay their eggs.

House flies are abundant worldwide and have no conservation assessment; their importance to people is as pests. LSU AgCenter describes management that starts by finding where flies breed and rest: identifying their favorite perches helps show which decaying material needs to be removed or moved where flies cannot reach it.

This sanitation reduces both the spread of disease-causing organisms and the contamination of food in fly-infested areas. Because breeding sites such as manure and garbage are where eggs and larvae develop, removing them breaks the life cycle before new adults appear.