Where do flies come from and what do they eat. Facts about flies What the housefly eats

Annoying insects can live both in nature, independently obtaining food for themselves, and settle closer to human habitation and use those products that people forget to remove or throw away. Consider what flies eat, and what groups are divided into science depending on the organization of nutrition. The information is presented in the table.

Fly classification

Group	a brief description of	Examples
Hematophagous	Adults are blood-sucking, they also consume ichor, sweat. The larvae feed on excrement.	Bazarnaya autumn zhigalka
coprophages	Food is food waste and excrement of people and animals. In nature, they can use plant juices
Polyphages	Omnivorous: they feed on waste, food, and excrement	room

Most often, house and house flies can be found in houses and apartments, but autumn stingers and some other species often fly in.

house fly

They are omnivorous, so feeding is not a problem for them. How do these insects feed?

Taste buds are located on the paws, thanks to which the fly tastes the selected food.
They suck up food with the help of a special forked proboscis tongue, which simultaneously softens it.
The food then enters the digestive system.
Due to the lack of teeth, they prefer liquid food.

What do house flies eat? Their favorite treats include:

Sweet tea.
Juices and lemonades.
Fruit juices.
Jam, jam.

Often, these insects are also interested in solid food, but it needs abundant moisture with saliva, so most often the fly will opt for a sweet liquid. However, if necessary, insects will feed on fresh or decaying fruits and vegetables.

Eating process and eating habits

The insect has no teeth and is forced to eat liquid food, sucking it up with a proboscis from 2 hollow tubes. Since ordinary indoor representatives are tiny, food is always and everywhere in the amount necessary for life. With the help of the proboscis, both the “wild” fly and the house fly feed.

If the insect is forced to eat solid food, it must first be moistened with saliva in the form of belching from the body. A sad rhyme comes to mind about how "the fly sat on the jam." After such a sitting, the product wants to be thrown away immediately.

The preferences of domestic inhabitants extend to fresh fruits and vegetables, while they do not like stale and rotten foods. Since childhood, we know that flies are the main carriers. Houseflies are a synanthropic species. Some of the "wild" counterparts, such as mosquitoes and green-headed gadflies, can feed on blood by biting mammals.

Many types of annoying insects can surprise you with their taste preferences:

Fast-flying insects lay their eggs in the larvae of large harmful insects.
The offspring of the hoverfly flower eat aphids.
Buzzing larvae eat locust egg-laying.
The large Australian fly feeds on the juices of other insects.
Maggots (bloat fly larvae) are used for medical purposes to clean festering wounds.
Fruit Drosophila has long been chosen by scientists as a "guinea pig". With its help, they study oncology, immunology and drug addictions.
The noble bee fly feeds exclusively on nectar, flying from flower to flower.

To rid your own home of annoying "guests", first of all, it is necessary to exclude foci of distribution in the form of food leftovers. In addition, a mosquito net should be installed in each window, which is an insurmountable barrier to insects. If, nevertheless, the house is filled with flies, it is recommended to fight the attack with the help of special adhesive tapes or effective mosquito traps that can quickly rid the home of unwanted presence.

Housefly

What does a housefly eat as a larva? During this period, sewage is food for her. For development, the larvae need protein, so they prefer to feed on decaying meat or fish.

Adult insects can sometimes find food by smell or see something tasty with their complex eyes, but more often they accidentally discover food. So, crawling on the surface of the table, the Diptera can "stumble" on a drop of cooking, which will become food. Unlike bees, a well-fed fly will not call on relatives, preferring to feed alone.

Other types of Diptera

What the fly eats, its favorite treats, depends on the specific species. For example:

Drosophila feed on rotten fruits, while laying eggs in them.
Fruits are found in those apartments where sour foods are found. These are small midges that multiply very quickly. They can also start up in baskets where onions, carrots, and other vegetables are stored.
Carrion eats decaying food.

Thus, the question of what the fly eats cannot be answered unambiguously, it all depends on the specific species.

Some interesting facts

Among these insects there are many species with unusual food preferences. Consider what flies eat in natural conditions:

There is a special species, cheese flies, that can breed and feed inside a cheese head. They are called pyophylides.
A striped yellow-black syrphid, or hoverfly, diptera, similar in appearance to a wasp, eats flower nectar.
The larvae of hoverfly flies are distinguished by an enviable appetite: during their development to an adult, each of them eats more than 2 thousand aphids.
Dangerous as food prefers the blood of wild animals, cattle, and also people. The bite of this African inhabitant can cause incurable diseases of the nervous system and immunity.

There are real predators among the flies, for example, ktyrs, owners of a sharp poisonous sting. They feed on mosquitoes, midges, even bees and flies. Interestingly, some types of flies are cultivated by fishing enthusiasts. So, the blue spring fly is specially bred on bird droppings, pig manure, rotting organic remains serve as food for it, insects are also fed with sugar and powdered milk.

Life span

We examined what the Drosophila fly and some other species of these Diptera eat. We will find out how long they live and whether they can live without food.

The average lifespan of Drosophila under favorable conditions is short, only 10-20 days. However, if the temperature is up to 18 ° C, and there is a lot of food, pests can live for more than 2.5 months. Diptera almost never remain without food, since they find food everywhere both in human dwellings and in nature. If necessary, they can eat food in garbage dumps and landfills.

Diptera have a lot of natural enemies in the forests (birds, frogs, spiders), so they rarely live more than 10 days.

We examined what flies eat, made sure that these creatures are able to survive almost everywhere, because they are not picky about food.

Annoying insects that are often found by people are flies. Not only are they annoying, they are also carriers. different microbes and diseases. This is due to the fact that these insects feed on decomposition products, go to different infected places, love manure and other impurities. And after that they climb on food, clean linen, and dishes. At the same time, pathogenic bacteria may already be present on their paws, which can cause some kind of disease in the human body, if together with contaminated food or utensils they enter the body.

Where do they come from - depends on the type of fly

Not all flies eat the same food. Although they are not particularly picky, some species still have a particular preference for one or another type of food. For example, there are those love to eat meat oh and others sweet, third - sour. And some feed exclusively on decay products. Therefore, you should first figure out what are the names and how these or those individuals that are greedy for meat, lard, or fruits look like. Winged insects are of the following types:

Drosophila. They love fruits, especially rotten ones. Reproduce very quickly. They are dangerous because they lay their eggs in food.
Housefly. It lives almost all the time in a residential or non-residential area, therefore you can hardly meet them in the wild. They are quick to react and are very difficult to catch by hand. Predominantly eat what people eat.
Meat. Their subspecies around the world there are 2000, and in Russia there are about 300. Favorite delicacy - lard, meat of animals, fish and insects. Outwardly, it is distinguished by a black-gray body and a head with large red eyes.
Ilnitsa. Her larvae are dangerous vectors coli and other infectious diseases.
carrion. Very often appears in dirty places, as well as where there is decomposition of organic matter. They are dangerous carriers of all kinds of diseases.
sirfida. Very similar in appearance on wasps- with brown-yellow transparent wings and a black-and-yellow striped abdomen, but they do not have a stinger. Unlike other individuals, she still eats aphids or flower nectar. Can only bother people by attacking for sweet fruits or berries.
fruits(they are also called “sours”). Small midges that always appear in the house when something turns sour. Mostly in summer, spring or autumn when it gets warm.

In general, all registered 75 types of fly order. Some of them may even bite when approaching a cold cyclone or autumn. The total lifespan of these winged creatures lasts about 1 or 1.5 months. The body length varies. Depending on the variety. So, meat individuals can reach up to 2 cm, and sours up to several millimeters in length. Due to their large eyes, they are considered to have excellent vision compared to other insects.

What do flies eat

If we say that flies are omnivores, we will not be mistaken. It really is. They are not picky about any kind of food, if it is organic. But most of all they are attracted to strong odors, including decomposition products, rotting and spoiled food. These insects do not have any teeth, but have a long proboscis-tongue, which is divided into two tubes. Through this tongue, they suck out food, so soft food is most acceptable to them. However, in order to taste food, they first taste it through the receptors that are on the paws.

The paws have claws, and under the claws there are formations such as pads that have a sticky surface. It is for these sticky pads stick to all sorts of germs and bacteria. However, these winged ones moisten solid food with saliva and only then eat softened food. Most of all, they like the following types of food:

juices, compotes, lemonades, syrups;
jam or jams;
tea and sugar;
any leftover food on the plates;
meat and fish;
dairy products, cheeses, etc.

From fruits, vegetables and berries these insects will also not refuse. They especially like rotten or overripe fruits or berries. They often also love graze by a trash can or garbage chute. However, some of their species especially prefer drain pits or toilets. In any case, as soon as you notice these guests in your house, you should take measures to destroy or scare them away.

How a fly eats - macro photography:

In order for the fight against harmful insects to be effective, you first need to know what the flies eat. They are able to deliver a lot of trouble with their appearance, because you have to brush aside their annoying attention. In addition to aesthetic discomfort, these insects carry more serious threats, so prevention measures are very important. If the flies have already settled in the house, then for a worthy fight you need to learn about the factors that provide a comfortable environment for their habitat.

Description and variety of species

You can find conflicting information in reference books: some sources speak of 30 thousand species, while others number up to 90 thousand. The name of the insect sounds almost the same in many languages, since it comes from an Old Slavic root meaning gray.

Flies belong to the order Diptera (Diptera) and walk on tiptoe like ballerinas.

The structure of the foot is distinguished by the presence of two claws with adhesive pads to collect dirt. The tongue is covered with sticky mucus and also collects accumulations of debris and harmful bacteria. The paws and body are covered with small hairs, but the insect can only eat with the help of a trunk.

An adult insect lays a large number of white eggs, about 1.3 mm in size, among moist, decaying food waste, from which larvae are born in the form of small worms. After a week, the skin of each larva thickens, the process of transformation into a pupa takes place.

After 5-6 days, it acquires a certain size and becomes an adult fly.

The species of flies are strikingly diverse. They live close to human dwellings and animal burrows, they are found everywhere, except for Antarctica, because the laid eggs die at temperatures below +8°C.

The housefly belongs to the synanthropic "small" individuals, reaches a size of 7-8 mm.

Habitat conditions in natural nature have given rise to predatory species that extract blood by biting animals and people. Such pests include the desert and autumn stinger fly, and the black flies that live in the northern forests attack the victim in swarms. The well-known tsetse fly bites incurable sleeping sickness to its African "neighbors" - animals, and humans.

Eating process and eating habits

The organ does not have taste buds, but they are on the paws, with which the food is "tasted".

You can not think about what flies eat, but simply observe their behavior.

These insects are omnivores. All types of organic food are suitable for them, but they prefer sweet liquid foods. Some species are recognized as true "gourmets", choosing only carrots or onions for saturation. There are individuals who have chosen the insides of a cheese head for reproduction, for which they are called pyophilids. The preferences of domestic inhabitants extend to fresh fruits and vegetables, while they do not like stale and rotten foods. Since childhood, we know that flies are the main vectors

House flies belong to the synanthropic species. Some of the "wild" counterparts, such as mosquitoes and green-headed gadflies, can feed on blood by biting mammals.

Many types of annoying insects can surprise you with their taste preferences:

Fast-flying insects lay their eggs in the larvae of large harmful insects.
The offspring of the hoverfly flower eat aphids.
Buzzing larvae eat locust egg-laying.
The large Australian fly feeds on the juices of other insects.
Maggots (bloat fly larvae) are used for medical purposes to clean festering wounds.
Fruit Drosophila has long been chosen by scientists as a "guinea pig". With its help, they study oncology, immunology and drug addictions.
The noble bee fly feeds exclusively on nectar, flying from flower to flower.

To rid your own home of annoying "guests", first of all, it is necessary to exclude foci of distribution in the form of food leftovers. In addition, a mosquito net should be installed in each window, which is an insurmountable barrier to insects.

If, nevertheless, the house is filled with flies, it is recommended to fight the scourge with the help of special adhesive tapes or effective mosquito traps that can quickly rid the home of unwanted presence.

I have hated flies since childhood. I read now what they write about them. I thought maybe there was at least some benefit from them in the light of new facts. No, love has not increased.

And here are some more facts about flies.

The house fly lives 14 days.

Flies have taste buds on their legs.

House flies usually live near the places where they have hatched, but it has been found that under the influence of the wind they can move up to 45 km away.

What do flies eat? Due to its tiny size (1000 adult flies weigh 25-30g), the common housefly does not need much food and will therefore find enough food for itself anywhere.

Houseflies do not eat solid food because they have nothing to chew on. The mouth of a fly is adapted only for the absorption of liquid food. The role of the tongue is performed by a proboscis resembling an elephant's trunk. It is also divided in two at the end, and these channels act as tubes through which liquid food is sucked.

The common belief that houseflies bite before a thunderstorm is incorrect. It's just that in these cases, house flies are confused with other types of flies, such as desert flies or dung flies. These flies are blood-sucking, they bite people.

But, if house flies don't bite, then why are they considered so dangerous to humans? The fact is that the paws with pads and the body of the flies are covered with protruding hairs, and sticky mucus envelops their tongue. This means that dust and dirt constantly stick to the fly. And since house flies look for food everywhere, including garbage and sewage, there can be bacteria in the dirt and dust that stick to the fly, causing various diseases that pass to our food when a fly lands on it, and along with the food they get inside the human body.

How are flies born? Everyone knows that flies are carriers of infection. The fly is born and spends most of its life near garbage and other places favorable for the development of bacteria. In fact, this damp, decaying matter is the most optimal breeding ground for flies. Here the female lays white eggs (about 1.2 mm in size), from which thin, worm-like, legless larvae emerge. This is the nutritional stage of the fly's life. Five or six days later, the skin of the larva thickens and turns brownish and the fly's life enters a resting stage: the larva becomes a chrysalis. After another 5-6 days, an adult fly appears from the pupa shell. The size of this fly does not change in the future: large flies do not grow out of small ones. Another 10 days later, the fly mates, and a little later the female lays 100 to 150 eggs.

Not all types of flies breed like houseflies. Some hatch eggs in themselves and give birth to live larvae, and some species lay eggs that are already in the pupal stage.

Due to the fact that flies carry diseases, a person is constantly fighting them. It is best to kill flies in winter or early spring. During this cold season, the flies hide in dark, warm corners and are very hungry all the time, so they are easy to catch and kill.

How does a fly manage to walk on the ceiling? For all its harmfulness, the fly is an amazing creature. An ordinary small housefly has two large brown eyes, each of which, in turn, consists of a thousand lenses. These eyes are called compound eyes. In addition to them, at the top of the head, the fly has three more simple eyes, looking straight up and distinguishable only through a magnifying glass.

The palps (or antennae) of the housefly are used as organs of smell, not as organs of touch. Antennae are able to detect smells at a great distance. The mouth of a fly is formed from an organ that we used to think of as a tongue, but in this insect, all parts of the mouth are brought together into a long proboscis, with which the fly sucks in juice.

The body of a fly is divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. Behind the wings are two small bulges that allow the fly to balance in flight. Three pairs of legs are attached to the striped breast. Each leg is divided into five parts, the last of which is the foot.

The fly walks on two claws located on the bottom of the foot. The sticky pads under these claws allow the fly to walk on the ceiling or anywhere else upside down with great ease!

Did you know that the whole life of a fly passes within a radius of 100 m from the place where it was born?

Why do flies rub their paws together? It is already customary to consider flies in the house as an annoying nuisance. They make an annoying buzz; they annoy you when they start to crawl over your body. For centuries, the fly was considered... just an annoying irritant. And only in the twentieth century, a man suddenly learned that such a harmless-looking fly is one of his worst enemies. It was discovered that flies carry pathogenic bacteria that can cause the death of millions of people every year!

When you see how a fly rubs its paws against each other, it means that it cleans them, removing from them what has got on them, various garbage. But how dangerous this garbage can be! It can be bacteria of typhus, tuberculosis, dysentery. Flies collect these bacteria on various waste and sewage. Then, if they suddenly sit on our food, these bacteria will get into it, and we can get an infection.

How does a fly spread these bacteria? If you look at a fly through a magnifying glass, you can see that the body of a fly is not at all smooth. Her entire body, antennae and legs are covered with erect hairs. The tongue of the fly is also covered with a sticky liquid.

This means that from almost any place where the fly sits, it collects dirt that sticks to its body, paws, tongue. Each of the three pairs of feet has claws and two hairy pads - so a lot of things can stick to them! Incidentally, the sticky fluid produced in the fly's pads allows it to walk on ceilings or any other surface upside down.

Did you know that the fly is one of the oldest insects? Found the fossilized remains of flies, which are millions of years old. Will we ever get rid of flies altogether? The only thing we can do is stop them from multiplying. And if this is done, the sanitary condition of the whole world will improve significantly!

It is enough just to talk about where she is born, and then you will inevitably be seized with disgust. The housefly (Musca domestica) prefers to lay its eggs in the manure left by pigs. The pungent smell lures the females, and they set up their unsanitary incubator. In one kilogram of pig manure, about 15,000 fly larvae can hatch, half as many as in a kilogram of horse apples; Unfortunately, they dry too quickly.

For their nurseries, the flies are not averse to choosing cow cakes. Unless, of course, they are very liquid. But they especially like the manure of calves fed by mother's milk.

Pig dung, cow cakes, horse apples - not very similar to the foam from which Aphrodite is born. In general, the pigsty is their favorite place: the flies stick around the wooden partitions, the ceiling and the pigs themselves so tightly that it seems that a whole blanket is spread here.

An accumulation of flies cannot be called a "people", it is only a "gathering". House flies, unlike ants and termites, are not classified as social insects. Even the simplest of all social forms of behavior - caring for offspring - is unknown to them. When, 3-4 weeks after laying eggs (this is the period for our latitudes), young flies hatch from pupae, their parents will have long been dead.

House flies live in the wild for hardly more than a week. The flies that fill our apartments and barnyards, only in rare happy cases manage to live out their Methuselah century, for a whole month. Scientists have found that in the wild, that is, in peasant farmsteads, half of the house flies lose their lives after the first three to six days. Only a few will be able to celebrate their tenth anniversary without first hitting a bird in a beak or a person's arm.

Flies don't even have their own language. If a bee knows how to wait for its compatriots in the rhythm of the dance for the coordinates of the nearest food supplies, then the flies have nothing to hope for.

House flies sometimes find food by smell, although their sense of smell is not tuned to certain flavors; and, perhaps, ten times weaker than the scent of dung flies. Sometimes houseflies are able to see their food, but this is not always the case, because their special, complex eyes, although they look at everything, but do not really look at it. Therefore, flies often just stumble upon something tasty. So, if a fly, absentmindedly walking around the kitchen table, accidentally steps on a drop of jam, the taste sensors located on its paws will inform its fly brains that it has met "Food!", And there it will immediately put its proboscis into action. If there are other flies nearby, then the one who has had dinner will not even think of vykabluchatsya in front of them, like bees, to dance the dance of the “full belly”. Dinner hunters will show up of their own accord: the flies follow each other almost at random. What for a meal, what for death.

This "herd instinct" is good for fighting flies. It is enough to place a few flies on the Velcro trap waiting for them, as their friends will begin to flock a little in order to "drink the same cup."

Fly agaric is an unpleasant name, and the mushroom itself, honored with it, is ready to cause you trouble, because it is poisonous. True, there is also a benefit from it, also suggested by the name: mushroom; soaked in sweetened milk, used for baiting flies.

Historical documents that have come down to us indicate that, probably, the last who had warm feelings for flies were the ancient Egyptians. On the one hand, in their hieroglyphic writing, the fly was a symbol of insolence. On the other hand, warriors who were especially brave were awarded medals in the shape of a fly.

Anyone who is going to conquer the whole world must be the same as a fly: bold, courageous, arrogant. Man was undoubtedly the first conqueror of the world. The housefly followed on his heels. To a certain extent, she was a stowaway in human history...

At -12 "C, most flies die in a matter of minutes. At + 8" C, laid eggs die. If the temperature is below +1 "C, the flies stop laying eggs. If it weren't for a person who warmed the fly folk in his home, these insects would have died out in long winters in our latitudes.

As for Musca domestica calleva, one of the two subspecies of the housefly that has remained, so to speak, at home in Africa, it is imperceptible that its representatives have chosen the interior of the houses there so much. What is the reason? Yes, it is quite warm there and outside.

However, how do flies survive the winter in our latitudes? Usually the lucky ones hide in the premises where livestock is kept (the temperature there is not lower than 12 "C), but in the very first spring days, the generation of insects experiences a population explosion.

An English poem says: "You will swat a thousand flies at once, slapping only two in May." In principle, the meaning is correct, but the arithmetic fails, the numbers are monstrously underestimated. The fecundity of flies makes even the pedantic scientist juggle with spectacular comparisons. Suppose one housefly lays a couple of hundred eggs in April in manure inside a pigsty, then by September its offspring will grow (if it is not disturbed) so much that:

a) its total weight will be 80,000 tons - do not forget that 70 flies in total weigh only one gram

b) this offspring will cover the territory of the former FRG with a carpet of flies 15 meters high.

It is worth imagining for a moment that this happened, and all the inhabitants of the former FRG, who had the misfortune of settling in apartments on the first five floors, will have to mentally say goodbye. The poor fellows will simply suffocate under the thickness of the multiplied flies. Fortunately, the all-tire flood will pass us by. There are many reasons for that.

First, many females will die before they lay their eggs. After all, in cool weather, nine days must pass between copulation and laying eggs. If we recall the average life span of flies (3 - 6 days), then only a few "senile old women" will survive to such a period.

Many flies die even at a virgin young age, before reaching puberty (it occurs 30 hours after the fly appears from the pupa).

In many ways, flies are also prevented from conquering the world by predatory larvae of other types of flies, wasps, beetles, ticks that eat eggs, larvae and pupae of houseflies. In the best case, flies will develop from only a quarter of the eggs laid by the mother.

Speaking of the delights of urbanization: where in the middle of the city can flies find a place to lay their eggs? Peasant yards, ideal incubators, are located several (if not more) kilometers away, and flies only in exceptional cases - in a time of famine or being literally blown away by the wind - move more than half a kilometer from their birthplace. Flies in the city help out, for example, heaps of humus, which are often found in public gardens; even garbage cans become maternity hospitals (fly God forbid that they are endlessly taken out of the apartment!)

The photographs sent from the starving regions of Africa show people literally covered in flies. To quench their thirst, flies adapt to drink human sweat, and other body secretions. So, sipping at their leisure the lacrimal fluid from the eyes of the unfortunate, the flies transmit to people the pathogens of trachoma, a disease that leads to blindness.

Flies fly at the speed of a hurried pedestrian, they can’t get any faster. But they manage to flap their wings with extraordinary energy: 330 strokes per second! Hummingbirds sleep on the fly compared to them. Flies are also capable of such complex maneuvers as somersaults, takeoffs and landings in the most difficult positions. After all, the "Fly" aircraft is endowed with many sensitive cells and measuring hairs located not only on the wings, but also on the halteres, thickenings that replace the second pair of wings.

If a fly has one more wonderful device that saves it from many troubles: its eyes. Flies have a circular view; they can even look back. After all, their compound eyes are made up of 3,000 facets, miniature eyes, examining every inch of the surrounding world (the world, however, seems to them somewhat vague). Fans of hunting flies can be told that it is practically impossible to sneak up on a fly unnoticed; it is better to approach them from the front, it may turn out that the fly, "fleeing", will stumble upon your palm itself.

There are about 100 families of flies on Earth, 60,000 different species; much more than mammals.

What flies eat depends on their species. The mouthparts are designed to suck in liquid food. However, solid products that are pre-processed are also used. The insect initially sprays a special substance that breaks down the mass, then calmly sucks it up. The larvae require protein food, this explains their stay on meat, fish, offal, dairy products.

What flies love

At home, several live next to a person. The most common, apartment. The synanthropic species is not adapted to life in the wild, it feeds on almost everything that a person eats, as well as garbage, waste, excrement.

The insect prefers liquid food, because it is absorbed faster, pests love sweet dishes. Attracts their products, which show signs of decay. There are also dishes that flies prefer, and those that are eaten in case nothing better is available.

Favorite dishes:

fruit, vegetable juice;
jam;
syrup;
sugar;
compote;
lemonade;

Without much enthusiasm, but if necessary, the fly eats:

sausage;
porridge;
borsch;
dairy products;
mashed potatoes;
candies;
cakes;
fruit;
vegetables.

On a note!
Flies in the house feed on everything they can get their hands on. Initially, they absorb liquid foods, since less energy is spent on digesting such foods, then they move on to solid foods. To be completely satiated, it is enough for an adult to drink a drop of juice, eat a bread crumb.

Food in the wild

Flies in nature feed on the juices of vegetables, fruits, plants, excrement, food waste. Products must be either ripe or rotten.

By the end of summer, another kind of flies appears in a person’s house -. Most of their lives they live in the wild, but with the onset of night cold, they move closer to civilization. Food is found either indoors or in the household yard, sheds with animals.

This species prefers to feed on the blood of animals, humans. Unlike a domestic relative, her oral apparatus ends with sharp scales that gnaw through the skin. In addition to blood, they eat food waste, excrement, fruit and vegetable juices.

Another type of flies that may be in the house is. They are somewhat larger than their domestic relative, have an attractive color with tints, gray. Blow flies feed on almost all the same, but also the juices of meat, fish, mucus, which is formed on open wounds. Decaying mass also often becomes food for them.

Feeding the larvae

Food habits also depend on the species. - house dwellers eat the juices of rotten plants, vegetables, fruits, excrement, food waste. in a place where the larvae can immediately find food for themselves.

The blowfly larvae develop in meat, fish, offal. They play a major role in the decomposition of corpses. They go through several stages of development, each time increasing in size. They grow rapidly, in 3 days they increase in size from 1 mm to a centimeter. They can live in the damaged tissues of living animals, making numerous moves.

On a note!
Some species of blowfly larvae eat their own kind. According to the time of appearance on the corpses, experts determine the exact date of death of an animal or person. The method is used in criminalistics.

How does a fly eat

The mouth apparatus of this insect is an oblong tube; in blowflies, the so-called teeth are located at the end. With the help of the proboscis, the insect draws food. If the products are solid, it initially injects a special secret that breaks down the food. There is no digestive system as such. Digestion is carried out outside, the fly absorbs already processed food.

The feeding of the larvae is carried out in the same way. The substance they secrete is a powerful antibiotic. This provides them with a free existence along with a large colony of harmful microorganisms.

Who eats flies

In nature, there are natural enemies among plants, animals, birds.

Flies are eaten by ground beetles, praying mantises, spiders, frogs, toads, birds, dogs for recreational purposes.