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PestAway Pest Control Blog
About Lesser Housefly
As its name implies, the lesser housefly (Fannia Canicularis order) is apparently smaller than the housefly (Musca Domestica order). It is about five to six millimetres in length and is yellow colour. The lesser housefly’s thorax hosts three black stripes. Despite the fact that this fly pest is considerably less common than houseflies and quite possibly blowflies, the specific circling and darting flight of the lesser housefly can make it relatively noticeable and annoying. It is often found in sheltered areas and indoors. The lesser housefly adult is about three to six mm long. It is smaller than the housefly and more slender. Thorax and abdomen are dull grey, with indistinct stripes on the thorax. At rest, wings are overlapping and held more flatly parallel than the roofing style of carriage of houseflies.
Lesser housefly eggs are laid in an appropriate feeding medium, which can be particularly moist and may include animal excrement and decaying vegetable matter (e.g. heaped lawn clippings). At the larva stage, they feed ravenously on the material on which the eggs were laid. Eggs hatch in just two days, and the larvae, equipped with spine-like processes on the sides and top of the body, feed for about ten days. After feeding, the larvae move to drier parts and pupate, remaining as pupae for about ten days. The life cycle, then, is almost three to four weeks.
Lesser Housefly females are attracted to decaying faecal matter as egg-laying areas and can easily be a particular nuisance in chicken houses and other livestock grounds. The lesser housefly survives good on chicken manure and can be problematic around poultry farms. In more urban places, dog excrement, pigeon excrement and inefficient waste disposal may all serve to assist its presence. It may also be attracted to honeydew from sap-sucking insects on plants. Lesser houseflies move slightly quicker than other species and fly in variable, darting patterns. Lesser housefly eggs float and may be noticed resting on standing water. Similar to typical houseflies, lesser houseflies are recognized for transmitters of diseases and carriers of many disease causing organisms like pathogens, including typhoid, cholera, malaria and anthrax. They gather pathogens from faecal matter and other decaying material, and then transfer it to humans by landing on exposed food, food containers and utensil, and other surfaces.
For more information please read Lesser Houseflies and Flies Control page. PestAway Pest Control provides professional and reliable flies control services (commercial and domestic pest and flies control) in Melbourne and Melbourne metropolitan areas.
Posted by PestAway Australia on 17th December, 2012 | Comments
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