House Flies (incl. other large flies)

---

Appearance

• Adults are grey to black, with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hairy bodies, and a single pair of membranous wings.
• They have red eyes, set farther apart in the slightly larger female
• Adult houseflies are usually 6 to 7 mm (1⁄4 to 9⁄32 in) long with a wingspan of 13 to 15 mm.

Habitat

• Adult houseflies are diurnal and rest at night.
• If inside a building after dark, they tend to congregate on ceilings, beams, and overhead wires, while out of doors, they crawl into foliage or long grass, or rest in shrubs and trees or on wires.
• In cooler climates, some houseflies hibernate in winter, choosing to do so in cracks and crevices, gaps in woodwork, and the folds of curtains.
• Houseflies can fly for several kilometres from their breeding places, carrying a wide variety of organisms on their hairs, mouthparts, vomitus, and faeces.

Lifecycle

• Each female housefly can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime, in several batches of about 75 to 150.
• The eggs are white and are about 1.2 mm (1⁄16 in) in length.
• Male houseflies are sexually mature after 16 hours and females after 24.
• Adult flies normally live for two to four weeks but can hibernate during the winter.