Housefly

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
WORK
OF
BIOLOGY
2009-2010
SUBMITTED TO : SUBMITTED TO :-
BIOLOGY DEPT. NAME: YASHA
K.V. NO. 3 NAL CLASS- XI- SCI
ROLL NO. _______

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that
Miss________________ of class
XII Sci. has completed her project
of Biology under my guidance.
MR. GURPREET SINGH
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am highly indebted to our school Principal Mr. B.L.
MAHICH sir for providing all the necessary
requirements in Biology laboratory.
I also convey my sincere thank to MR.GURPREET
SINGH sir for his valuable guidance and help to
complete my project.
I am extremely grateful and thankful to my parents
for their affection and moral support and also to my
friends whose co-operation helped me to complete my
project.
AIM
TO STUDY ABOUT HOUSEFLY &
ITS EFFECTS.
HOUSEFLY
The housefly (also house fly, house-fly or common housefly), Musca domestica,
is a Diptera of the Brachycera suborder. It is the most common of all domestic
flies, accounting for about 90% of all flies in human habitations, and indeed one
of the most widely distributed insects, found all over the world; it is considered a
pest that can carry serious diseases.
The adults are 8–12 mm long. Their thorax is gray, with four longitudinal dark
lines on the back. The underside of their abdomen is yellow[citation needed],
and their whole body is covered with hair-like projections. The females are
slightly larger than the males, and have a much larger space between their red
compound eyes. The mass of pupae can range from about 8 to 20 mg under
different conditions.[1]
Like other Diptera (meaning "two-winged"), houseflies have only one pair of
wings; the hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid in flight stability.
caterpillars (M1+2 or fourth long vein of the wing) shows a sharp upward bend.
Species that appear similar to the housefly include:
 The lesser house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller, more

slender, and the media vein is straight.
 The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, has piercing mouthparts and the
media vein is only slightly curved.
Life cycle
Each female fly can lay approximately 500 eggs in several batches of about 75
to 150 [2]. The eggs are white and are about 1.2 mm in length. Within a day,
larvae (maggots) hatch from the eggs; they live and feed in (usually dead and
decaying) organic material, such as garbage or feces. They are pale-whitish, 3–
9 mm long, thinner at the mouth end, and have no legs. They live at least one
week. At the end of their third instar, the maggots crawl to a dry cool place and
transform into pupae, colored reddish or brown and about 8 mm long. The adult
flies then emerge from the pupae. (This whole cycle is known as complete
metamorphosis.) The adults live from two weeks to a month in the wild, or longer
in benign laboratory conditions. After having emerged from the pupae, the flies
cease to grow; small flies are not young flies, but are indeed the result of getting
insufficient food during the larval stage.
Some 36 hours after having emerged from the pupa, the female is receptive for
mating. The male mounts her from behind to inject sperm. Copulation takes
between a few seconds to a couple of minutes.[3] Normally the female mates
only once, storing the sperm to use it repeatedly for laying several sets of eggs.
Males are territorial: they will defend a certain territory against other males and
will attempt to mount any females that enter that territory
The flies depend on warm temperatures; generally, the warmer the temperature
the faster the flies will develop. In winter, most of them survive in the larval or
the pupa stage in some protected warm location.
Diet
Houseflies feed on feces, open sores, sputum, and moist decaying organic
matter such as spoiled food, eggs and flesh. [4] Houseflies can take in only
liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to predigest it, and then suck it
back in. They also regurgitate partly digested matter and pass it again to the
abdomen.
Sex determination
The housefly is an object of biological research, mainly because of one

remarkable quality: the sex determination mechanism. Although a wide variety
of sex determination mechanisms exist in nature (e.g. male and female
heterogamy, haplodiploidy, environmental factors) the way sex is determined is
usually fixed within one species. However, the housefly exhibits many different
mechanisms for sex determination, such as male heterogamy (like most insects
and mammals), female heterogamy (like birds) and maternal control over
offspring sex. This makes the housefly one of the most suitable species to study
the evolution of sex determination
Evolution
Even though the order of flies (Diptera) is much older, true houseflies are
believed to have evolved in the beginning of the Cenozoic era, some 65 million
years ago.[6] House flies feed on liquid or semi-liquid substances beside solid
material which has been softened by saliva or vomit. Because of their high
intake of food, they deposit feces constantly, one of the factors that makes the
insect a dangerous carrier of pathogens. Although they are domestic flies,
usually confined to the human habitations, they can fly for several miles from the
breeding place. They are active only in daytime and rest at night e.g. at the
corners of rooms, ceiling hangings, etc
Housefly as a vector of disease
Mechanical transmission of organisms on its hairs, mouthparts, vomitus and

feces:
 parasitic diseases: cysts of protozoa e.g. Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia

lamblia and eggs of helminths e.g.: Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuros
trichura, Haemenolypes nana, Enterobius vermicularis.
 bacterial diseases: typhoid, cholera, dysentery, pyogenic cocci...etc.
House flies have been demonstrated to be vectors of Campylobacter and
E. coli O157:H7 using PCR [7]. House flies can be monitored for bacterial
pathogens using filter paper spot cards and PCR [8]
 Viruses: enteroviruses: poliomyelitis, infective hepatitis (A & E)...etc.
Damage and Medical Importance
Flies commonly develop in large numbers in poultry manure under caged hens,
and this is a serious problem requiring control. Although this fly species does not
bite, the control of Musca domestica is vital to human health and comfort in
many areas of the world. The most important damage related with this insect is
the annoyance and the indirect damage produced by the potential transmission
of pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes) associated
with this fly. Pathogenic organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage
and other sources of filth, and then transferred on their mouthparts, through their
vomitus, feces and contaminated external body parts to human and animal food.
Of particular concern is the movement of flies from animal or human feces to

food that will be eaten uncooked by humans. Also, when consumed by flies,
some pathogens can be harbored in the mouthparts or alimentary canal for
several days, and then be transmitted when flies defecate or regurgitate. In
situations where plumbing is lacking, such as open latrines, serious health
problems can develop, especially if there are outdoor food markets, hospitals, or
slaughter houses nearby. Among the pathogens commonly transmitted by
house flies are Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Escherichia,
Enterococcus, Chlamydia, and many other species that cause illness. These
flies are most commonly linked to outbreaks of diarrhea and shigellosis, but also
are implicated in transmission of food poisoning, typhoid fever, dysentery,
tuberculosis, anthrax, ophthalmia, and parasitic worms.
Bibliography
THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED UNDER
SUPERVISION OF OUR BIOLOGY TEACHER WITH
THE HELP OF FOLLOWING BOOKS:
1. ABC LABORATORY ,MANUAL BIOLOGY OF
CLASS XITH
2. PRADEEP’S – A TERXT BOOK OF BIOLOGY.

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INVESTIGATORY

BIOLOGY DEPT. NAME: YASHA

K.V. NO. 3 NAL CLASS- XI- SCI

ROLL NO. _______

This is to certify that

XII Sci. has completed her project

of Biology under my guidance.

MR. GURPREET SINGH

I am highly indebted to our school Principal Mr. B.L.

MAHICH sir for providing all the necessary

requirements in Biology laboratory.

I also convey my sincere thank to MR.GURPREET

SINGH sir for his valuable guidance and help to

I am extremely grateful and thankful to my parents

for their affection and moral support and also to my

friends whose co-operation helped me to complete my

Species that appear similar to the housefly include:

 The lesser house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller, more

The housefly is an object of biological research, mainly because of one

Mechanical transmission of organisms on its hairs, mouthparts, vomitus and

 parasitic diseases: cysts of protozoa e.g. Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia

Of particular concern is the movement of flies from animal or human feces to

SUPERVISION OF OUR BIOLOGY TEACHER WITH

THE HELP OF FOLLOWING BOOKS:

1. ABC LABORATORY ,MANUAL BIOLOGY OF

2. PRADEEP’S – A TERXT BOOK OF BIOLOGY.

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