The fly is a two-winged nuisance insect from a species of arthropod.
It received this name back from ancient Slavic times from the word “mus”, which translates as “gray”.
What does a fly look like?
Everyone probably knows what this insect looks like, but it’s still worth looking at the presented photos of various flies.
The length of its body ranges from a millimeter level to two cm. The hairy body of the fly has two wings with membranes, a fairly voluminous head and a belly with three pairs of legs.
The mouth is designed like a proboscis that sucks in liquid food. The fly's legs have fairly developed sharp segments and sticky pads that allow it to stay upside down on any surface.
The insect's eyes are designed in a particularly unique way; they contain thousands of hexagonal crystals, which allows the fly to simultaneously see what is happening from absolutely any direction (even the background), that is, it has a circular field of vision. Whiskers are capable of detecting and recognizing many different scents.
Nectarivores
mudfly
- an insect similar to a bee, but with two yellow spots on the upper side of the abdomen. Sometimes these spots have a reddish tint.
The bee moth can cause harm to humans only if its eggs enter the gastrointestinal tract. Considering that siltworm larvae develop in pits with sewage, the likelihood of siltworm eggs getting into fresh food is very low.
Habitats and food of flies
The fly insect is a very heat-loving arthropod and does not tolerate drops in temperature at all. Its habitat is almost the entire globe, excluding cold Antarctica.
They give preference to residential areas, closer to people and animals. The fly can be observed in homes during the warm season, where it invades from early spring to late autumn.
The life of an insect is quite short - a maximum of 2.5 months.
Flies eat almost any organic food that is pre-soaked with their saliva. Sweets occupy the first place in its diet, but there are also exceptional individuals who choose raw vegetables.
Useful
Even ordinary flies can be considered useful, since they are orderlies - they destroy garbage, expired food and other leftovers.
Slightly less common are pollinating flies, such as the honey bee. But if it enters the body, it can cause various infections.
Hoverfly or syrphid
Very similar to a wasp. In the summer, you can see such a fly hovering over flowering plants, or near a cluster of garden aphids.
This specimen is safe for humans. It feeds on the nectar of inflorescences and spider mites. The buzzing of a fly resembles the sound of rushing water, which is why it got its beautiful name.
Afagi
Species that do not consume any food as adults. Particularly dangerous aphages include gadflies, whose larvae feed on the soft muscle tissue of their hosts or parasitize in the intestines.
On a note!
Contrary to popular belief, the gadfly does not bite or lay eggs under the skin.
Bodfly eggs, depending on the species, are either stuck to the animal’s fur, laid on the grass, or injected into the nose and eyes. The hatched larva makes its way under the skin or into the intestines.
Photo of a fly
Chloromyia formosa
Adults of this beautiful species of fly fly grow up to 1 cm in length, and received their name due to the unusual coloring of the body and limbs.
Females are blue-green with a purple tint, but males are copper-green with a metallic sheen. The wings are yellow, almost transparent, but the legs are black with yellow spots on the knees.
Their range is quite extensive, from the Far East to North Africa. Females and males feed on plants, sometimes acting as the only pollinators of rare flowers and plants.
3
Ktyri / Asilidae
Predatory dipterous insects settled on all continents except Antarctica. The largest populations are found in the subtropics. For example, in California there are more than 500 species, but in cool Norway there are only 20.
The body shape is quite unusual, thread-like, but they are also found with a flattened abdomen. In the Palearctic region there are species whose males grow up to 5 cm, and in the tropics you can find an eight-centimeter fly.
Ktyrs are natural predators that hunt and eat other insects. They have an aggressive disposition and easily fight with wasps and bees.
6
Buzzers / Bombyliidae
Flies of this family grow from 08 to 30 mm, and their entire body is covered with short fur. This makes them similar to some species of bees and wasps. In addition, they have an elongated proboscis in front.
They settled in tropical and subtropical regions. They feed mainly on nectar. Unlike adults, larvae are predators and feed on the laid eggs of other insects.
The oldest species of buzz fly was discovered in 1985 in layers of the Middle Jurassic period. This fossil species was introduced into scientific circulation by the Soviet zoologist A. Kovalev.
10
Cereal flies / Chloropidae
In total, about 3,500 species of this family live on the planet, and there are more than 500 species in Russia alone. One of the subspecies was discovered in Baltic amber.
They grow up to 8 mm. There are no cells at the base of the wings, and the prothorax is decorated with dark stripes. Small individuals are usually black with yellow stripes. Among all the diversity there are saprophages and predators that feed on insects and larvae.
They can cause great harm to agricultural crops, and, as the name implies, to cereals. In Africa and in the tropical zone of the planet there are species that act as carriers of dangerous diseases.
By the way, on our website most-beauty.ru there is an interesting article about the most unusual insects.
5
Read more about Sleeping sickness
In Russia, there is almost no possibility of contracting this disease due to the absence of carriers of the pathogen. But travelers and charity workers who end up in Central Africa. Medicine in these regions is poorly developed, and a vaccine is extremely difficult to find, so a fly bite can be fatal.
Fortunately, regardless of the classification of types, fly bites will not necessarily lead to illness, since not every fly is a carrier. Symptoms are specific and appear within three days to several weeks after the disease, which gives the affected person time to heal. After a fly bite, the following symptoms may occur:
- The appearance of a painful ulcer at the site of the bite;
- The temperature is kept at a consistently high level;
- Rash and itching all over the body;
- The face swells;
- Lymph nodes thicken;
- Body weight drops noticeably for no apparent reason.
Sometimes the victim experiences an enlarged spleen, and kidney and heart diseases begin. Sleep patterns are disrupted, the person loses coordination and complains of confusion. All this develops over a period of a couple of weeks to several months after infection. Lack of treatment leads to death in most cases.
Eristalinus aeneus
This fly likes to settle in river valleys, near freshwater ponds and streams. Found in southern European countries. In the north there are small populations in coastal areas.
This species has a rather unusual color. There are clearly defined black spots on the eyes, and there are five dark stripes on the back. The back of the body is covered with small bristles.
Adult specimens reach 25 mm in length. They fly very quickly and low over plants, feeding on the nectar of flowers. The larvae develop in water bodies. The summer period is from April to October, and in the winter they fall into suspended animation, hiding in a secluded place.
Gadflies
These large flies occupy an intermediate stage between oviparous and Wohlfart. Gadfly larvae also parasitize living organisms, but they reach the host in the egg stage.
The gastric botfly lays eggs on animal fur. When they lick the eggs from the fur, they end up in the stomach. Only after this does the larva emerge and begin its development in the host’s gastrointestinal tract.
The subcutaneous lays eggs on the fur. The emerging individual independently goes deep under the skin, where it passes through all stages of development in safety, leaving the host only before pupation. Sheep and horse gadflies "splash" eggs into the eyes and nasal cavities of animals in the same way as the Wohlfarth fly does with larvae.
Appearance
Body length is 9 mm-2.5 cm. An adult has a wide head with large eyes and short antennae. There is no proboscis, or it is reduced. The legs are massive and short. The abdomen is round or conical. The entire body is covered with coarse hairs. The life of gadflies is short - approximately 22 days.
Classification
- Hypodermatinae (Subcutaneous). Adults lay eggs on the hair of domestic animals: horses, rams, cows. The hatched larvae penetrate the skin and move through the tissues. Before entering stage II, they gather under the skin, forming inflamed fistulas. Through them the larvae get to the surface.
- Gasterophilinae (Stomach). There are 2 ways for larvae to enter. Some females lay eggs on leaf food, and they enter the animal with food. Others - on the head and chest. The cattle, by biting and licking the skin, transfer the eggs into the digestive tract.
- Oestrinae (Cavity, nasopharyngeal). Females release eggs in flight, which land on the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. People often suffer unwittingly: as a result, conjunctivitis (very dangerous for a child) and other diseases can develop.
Some scientists classify Cuterebrinae, the American subcutaneous gadfly, as a separate subfamily. They most often parasitize mice, hares, gophers, etc.
Danger to humans
Some subcutaneous species, such as Dermatobia hominis, attack humans. Bodfly larvae penetrate the skin, causing a lot of suffering. Cases have been recorded where a person died from the penetration of parasites.
Gadflies are inventive in attack: some distract, others attack. Their legs are soft, so you may not notice when a fly lands on your skin. But its bite is very painful, burning. Redness appears in this place and itching begins.
Human blood serves as a breeding ground for eggs. The hatched larvae, looking for a way out, move upward. If they get into the brain, death is inevitable.
Volucella inflata
The large shorthaired fly grows up to 15mm in length and has a wingspan of 10-13mm. It is found in forests, but sometimes flies into orchards growing not far from human habitation.
This species has an unusual color. The breast is black with orange edges. There are orange spots throughout the body. This protective color helps them protect themselves from birds and other insectivorous forest inhabitants.
This unusual fly has spread throughout Europe, from the cold latitudes of Scandinavia to the warm shores of Italy and Spain.
12
Carrion
This beauty also has two names. The second one will be a green fly. This insect has a body that shines with emerald. They live near sewage and carrion.
To prevent the female from eating the male's fly after mating, he presents her with some food.
Sickness
The disease transmitted by the tsetse fly is caused by a parasite called trypanosome. The severity of the illness is complicated by fever, weakness, drowsiness, mental weakness, and headache.
In severe cases of illness, coma may develop and further deterioration of the body may result in death.
The International Health Organization is conducting extensive investigations, and, according to its data, nearly 500,000 people in the territory today are already infected with dangerous sleeping sickness and a large part of them are dead.
Tourists who have visited the secretive African continent rarely get sick from their trips, and the price of Zanzibar, inhabited by Tsetse, has risen a lot from them.
By and large, the whole thing reflects thinness – over 3,000,000 heads are thin.
It appears that trypanosomes, which are lethal to humans, have a permanent blood supply in African antelopes, and they have absolutely no regard for life. The problem lies in the fact that from antelope to humans, a dangerous infection can be transmitted by a fly with just a bite. Having penetrated into the blood, the trypanosome, harmless to the antelope, immediately changes its protein coat, and at this it has thousands of different ways, under the skin of which it is impossible to select an antidote drug.
By taking one drug, you can reduce the number of trypanosomes, but there is no effect on other types. Moreover, the drugs that act against trypanosomes are very toxic and may have no side effects.
Athericidae
The remains of this insect were found in China in Jurassic deposits. The most ancient ancestors of modern flies of the order Tabanomorpha led an ectoparasitic lifestyle.
Modern flies grow up to 18 mm and have an unusual cone-shaped body structure. Huge red eyes stand out on the small head. Usually black with thin white stripes. Another characteristic feature is their long legs, which make them look like mosquitoes.
Most of them feed on nectar, but females of some species feed on blood to produce offspring.
4
