Interesting facts about flies
1. There are about 30,000 species of flies, inhabiting all continents except Antarctica and the Arctic.
2. On average, a fly lives about a month.
3. The offspring of one female fly is about one hundred eggs per day.
4. A fly's wings beat about 200 times per second.
5. The structure of the fly's eye is very complex; it consists of many hexagonal lenses. With their help, flies see colors and even ultraviolet light.
6. Flies transmit many diseases, including typhoid, leprosy, and anthrax.
7. Flies sense odors at long distances, up to 750 meters.
Types of flies and why are they dangerous to humans?
These insects are carriers of diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid fever, cholera, tuberculosis, anthrax, polio, and diphtheria.
Hessian fly
Among the types of pest flies, the most famous is the Hessian fly. Outwardly, it looks like a mosquito, which is why one of its names is bread mosquito. Its larvae are capable of completely destroying grain crops; they especially love rye and wheat. Bread gnat attacks have previously led to famine in entire countries.
Cabbage fly
This pest competes with the cabbage fly, an incredibly voracious species. The larvae of this insect completely eat up cruciferous plants.
Pushers
One of the most interesting types of predatory flies is the pushers. The rules of their mating games are surprising: the flies dance in the air for some time. Representatives of the stronger sex fly up to the females one by one with a present - a neatly packaged fly. If the lady doesn’t like the gift, the unlucky boyfriend can easily have his head bitten off. Everything is like people...
Interesting: Why do midges often fly in swarms?
Pusher catches prey in flight, skewers it on spikes located on the front legs and sucks out the entrails. Their larvae are also predators.
Anatomy of a fly - external structure
The general plan of the structure of dipterans, the skeleton of a fly is the same as that of other insects - head, chest, abdomen. The head contains the mouthparts, antennae, and eyes. The chest consists of three segments, with a pair of transparent wings, and three pairs of legs. The space in the chest is filled with powerful muscles. The abdomen includes most of the digestive organs and the reproductive system.
On a note!
Flies have pronounced sexual dimorphism, when the appearance and structure of the female differs from the male.
Fly head
Includes the organs of vision, nutrition, and hearing.
- Oral apparatus. Regardless of the differences in nutrition of many species of flies, their oral apparatus is represented by a proboscis of a sucking, licking type. A pair of extended blades of the upper and lower lips come into contact with food. The fly's jaws are powerful. Numerous tubules converge in the fly's proboscis, at its central point. The mouthparts of a fly that feeds on blood are additionally equipped with hard, sharp scales that serve as teeth and help pierce the skin of animals and humans. The liquid is drawn into the head using a pharyngeal pump.
- The eyes occupy most of the head. They form a complex system, which was taken as the basis for the development of a modern photo camera. They consist of many simple eyes that look like a faceted mesh from the outside. The insect receives a comprehensive but mosaic image of objects. Each eye includes several hundred or thousands of facets. The housefly has about 4 thousand of them. Many species have 3 simple eyes located on the crown of the head. This structure allows you to instantly capture movement, but does not provide a complete picture of the image.
- Mustache. A kind of antenna serves as a landmark. They help to catch odors and determine the direction of movement. In the process of evolution they changed, there are differences in males and females.
Interesting!
Males always have larger eyes than females. This allows them to react faster to movement and better assess their surroundings. Females have a more developed olfactory system, with the help of which they find a favorable environment for laying eggs.
The structure of a fly's head
Breast
Consists of three segments - prothorax, midthorax, metathorax. The bones of the fly and the main part of the muscles provide flight, so the middle part is the most developed. How many legs does a fly have? 3 pairs. Each consists of 5 parts and has its own powerful muscles. The structure of the fly's paws ends with claws and suction cups, which allow the insect to stay on a vertical, horizontal surface and even upside down. When walking, the soft pads compress and secrete a sticky secretion. This feature helps flies to hang on and move freely on window glass and smooth surfaces.
On a note!
The paws are one of the main sense organs - smell. Using its legs, the insect determines the taste of food and analyzes the quality. After a few seconds of analysis, it begins to feed or flies away.
Wings of a fly
The upper ones are well developed, transparent, membranous. The posterior pair is deformed into appendages - halteres. They maintain balance in flight, allow them to hover in the air, and also make a buzzing sound. Thin wings are reinforced with cylindrical veins.
Interesting!
During the flight, an insect can turn off one or the other wing, abruptly change its trajectory, perform complex maneuvers, and take off without preliminary acceleration. The structure and abilities of the insect were taken as the basis for many flying structures in airplanes and helicopters.
Abdomen
It has a cylindrical shape, elongated, consists of 10 segments, includes the organs of the fly responsible for reproduction, respiration, nutrition and other important functions. The elastic chitinous cover expands as food arrives during pregnancy. Therefore, the weight of the fly varies depending on these conditions.
Interesting!
An ordinary housefly or housefly weighs 12 mg; during pregnancy, the weight increases to 15 mg. Your weight can increase to the same level after a meal. The male is smaller, weighing about 12 mg. One gram contains about 80 of these insects.
The face of a fly can be easily seen under a microscope, but even when carefully examined with the naked eye, one can see an elongated mouthparts and large eyes of green, red, yellow, brown, and blue. The ears of a fly are located on different parts of the body and help to detect air vibrations and ultrasound.
Structure of a fly
Head structure
The individual parts of the fly's head have their own names:
- forehead - located between the eyes, at the top it turns into the crown, at the bottom of it there are antennae;
- the fly's face is located below the whiskers and looks like a facial plate bounded by the forehead and frontogenal suture;
- there are cheeks under the eyes;
- the back surface of the head is convex or flat (in some species it is concave);
- the eyes are convex faceted, formed from many facets; in males and females the facets are different - in the former they are holaptic and very close together; eye color varies between species;
- in the oral cavity there is a proboscis instead of the lower lip with sucking lobules at the end, here the salivary gland channel passes;
- The fly's jaws (upper and 1 pair of lower) are atrophied.
The organs of smell and taste are much more advanced and subtle compared to humans. The sharpness and their cricketing ability are associated with a large number of “nostrils,” although the olfactory organs are separated from the respiratory organs and are located on the antennae; some species of dipterans also sense taste with their paws, or rather, with their last segments on the legs.
Life cycle of a fly
Many people wonder how long a fly lives; does it really fly only for one season? And where does it disappear then? In fact, the average lifespan of a fly is between 1 and 2.5 months. How long flies live in an apartment depends on the degree of favorable conditions for their existence, temperature conditions, humidity levels and other factors. Typically, the temperature in the room is about 25 degrees, which is optimal for an insect such as a housefly. The homeland of this representative is the central part of Asia, but following people they have spread everywhere. Of particular interest is the memory of an ordinary fly.
You enter the room and see a bed. On the bed there are two dogs, four cats, a giraffe, five cows and a duck. There are also three chickens flying over the bed. The answer is not six, it's four. The question is how many feet are on the floor. Because the bed has only one leg and has four legs to support the bed, and the person who entered the room was on their feet when they entered, not on their feet.
How are flies born?
He asks how many feet are there on the floor? You do not walk on your feet, but on your feet, so that your feet are not on the floor. So the answer is 4 from the bed. The person touches the floor with his feet so it's not right, it's 4 off the bed and that's it. The bed could actually just be a mattress, in which case there are no feet on the floor. The bed could have a frame with two legs, in which case there would be Or maybe 4 legs from the bed. Their feet do not lie on the floor, their feet lie on the floor.
Peculiarities of fly reproduction
We have looked at how long a fly lives; it remains to consider the reproductive characteristics of these individuals. A female can lay about 100 white eggs at a time, having a length of only 1.2 mm. During the life cycle, females lay eggs 6 times on average. If conditions are favorable, reproduction occurs in winter. It takes up to 50 hours for an egg to develop. The larvae reach a length of 13 mm and are white in color. They live in fecal matter. After three molts, the flies turn into pupae. 36 hours after emerging from the pupal state, individuals are considered adults and can reproduce. The cycle of life is short.
Anatomically speaking, we stand on our feet. Beds do not have legs, but posts or even legs. If we focus on the organics of the matter, we are denying the fact that a bed can only have a wooden frame such as the "Platform" style. The mystery was not well constructed and left the path open to too many plot holes.
You can't count when your feet are on the floor and not your feet. Since beds can have different numbers of legs depending on design and size, you must use the most logical theory to get one answer, so a bed should not have legs to get one answer.
Wintering flies
Many people are interested in the question of where flies spend the winter. It turns out that over a one-year period, a room can change from 9 generations of insects, and pupae and adults go into hibernation for the winter, and fertilized females can also overwinter. During cold times - winter - flies are in cold rooms and are inactive. It turns out that they have to die for a while in order to live out their cycle for the next year when the warmth arrives. The insect can be revived only during warming. It is necessary that the outside air warms up to 10 degrees.
There is nothing to indicate that you are the only observer, or that you entered the room through the floor rather than a raised platform. There's nothing that says "you have" legs at all - even double amputees can walk, although not necessarily on their legs. There's nothing that says you're in the same room as the bed - so what floor, including others in adjacent rooms? It's hard to define "legs" - of course, beds and other pieces of furniture can have legs. Needless to say, some animals do not have one or more legs hanging from the bed onto the floor.
Aristotle's fly
There is a famous legend about Aristotle and the fly. It says that the scientist stated in one of his writings that a fly has as many as eight legs. There are several theories about the origin of such a statement:
1. Aristotle said this to his students, and they wrote down the statement.
2. The copyist of Aristotle’s treatise made a mistake.
3. On the contrary, the scribes personally made changes to the text of the treatise, considering it an error.
Despite this, the Russian translation of the treatise “On the Parts of Animals” states that all insects have six legs.
The treatise also says that their eyes are hard and their vision is rather weak. The front legs are used to sweep away anything in sight. The process of such cleaning can be observed in flies and bees, when they help themselves with their front legs, working like windshield wipers. The hind legs are larger than average. This helps with walking and makes it easier to take off from the ground.
In jumping insects, the differences in leg size are even more noticeable. So, for example, when an insect straightens its legs, it still needs to rise a little to start flying. In locusts, also jumping insects, only the hind legs are adapted for jumping, because the joint must bend inward, which cannot happen on the front legs.
The same treatise describes that flies have only 2 wings, although it is known that there is also a second pair of wings, which is located behind. These wings are called halteres and help the insect maintain balance in the air. It is likely that Aristotle classified them as legs.
The incident with the fly is not the only one in Aristotle's works. A host of fantastic conclusions probably stemmed from Aristotle's research methods. Thus, he preferred logical reasoning instead of direct experiment. In his opinion, this excluded the possibility of rare exceptions and gave a more accurate picture of what was happening.
Now we can answer how many legs a fly has – 6 legs.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IbuzE88wD_g
Classification of flies
There are 40 thousand species of flies in the world, which can be divided into three large groups:
- settlement: live in close proximity to humans, are not able to survive in the wild; house flies;
- semi-settlement (facultative-settlement): can live both near humans and in the wild; blow flies;
- grazing: live in livestock droppings on pastures, fly into populated areas; dung flies;
Gray blowflies are corpse lovers
Flies are also divided into those that feed:
- fruits and berries: melon and garden;
- vegetables: lily, cabbage, garlic, cucumber, sprouts;
- flowers: peony;
- blood of animals and people: black (April), tsetse fly;
- rot and carrion: green, domestic, dung, gray meat;
- other insect pests: hoverflies, blackbirds;
Garden flies damage the harvest of fruits and berries
Species and habitat
Some species of dipterans that live near humans are among the most ancient insects. This is exactly what the common housefly is, which, according to scientists, has been living on the planet for 145 million years.
Diptera are widespread on the planet, numbering more than 5 thousand species, of which a fifth lives in Russia. The most famous: domestic (indoor), meat, etc. They all have a similar body structure, differing only in size, color and habitat.
The smallest flies in the world are Megaphragma caribea (length 0.17 mm) and representatives of the family Myrmaridae (2.1 mm), the largest are the South American Mydas hero (grow up to 6 cm in length with a wingspan of up to 12 cm) and the New Zealand species Egsul up to 5 cm long.
What types of flies are most common?
The world of flies is diverse, which, in addition to the structure of the body and life cycle, have one common property - intrusiveness. Whatever the insect is: dangerous or relatively harmless to humans, it will be very difficult to get rid of it. What attracts flies to us? These creatures have a well-developed sense of smell, they are attracted to various sweet and not so sweet aromas (but the most pleasant smell for most of them is the aroma of rot), to which they fly. We prepare a lot of dishes with all sorts of tastes and smells - these are the things that attract these insects so much that they force them to travel quite large distances compared to their size and fly into our homes.
The alluring aroma overrides everything for flies, sometimes even the instinct of self-preservation, so many people, when asked “How many species of flies do you think there are?” They answer: “one is annoying.”
house fly
The housefly (or housefly) lives exclusively in close proximity to a person’s home, where there is a lot of food and quickly rotting household waste. It is impossible for this type of insect to exist away from people, so in the warm season they are nearby all the time: they live in our kitchens, where food and waste are stored, they fly in through open windows to stay for several hours, and it is quite difficult to drive them out.
House flies are considered the most annoying
House flies do not have a piercing-sucking mouthpart, so they cannot bite a person, but this does not make them completely harmless. These insects have three pairs of limbs, each with small suction tentacles, to which various bacteria and microorganisms stick, and then they are transferred by flies to food. Creatures of this species are completely unremarkable: they have a gray-brown body with nondescript wings, but very bright red eyes. They occupy almost the entire head, the lower part of which is yellowish and the upper part is sand-colored. The head has antennae and an oral cavity.
House flies have huge red eyes
Flies have two pairs of wings: the first is used for flight, the second (called halteres) is used to maintain balance. It is the halteres that make the sound that we call buzzing.
House flies are diurnal insects that fall asleep after dark and wake up when the sun has already risen. They are active only in the warm season; in the fall, with the onset of the first cold weather, they hibernate.
On average, houseflies live 3–4 months. First, the adult female lays eggs (about a hundred in one clutch), from which a larva emerges after 8–50 hours (depending on the climate). This is a small worm up to 13 mm long that lives in animal feces and household waste. The larva moults approximately once a week; after the third, the outer shell of the worm hardens, falls off, and the creature turns into a pupa. After 3 days, an adult is born, which becomes sexually mature after 36 hours. Over its relatively long life, one fly can lay up to 10 thousand eggs.
The fly larva looks like a small chopped off worm
These insects eat the same food as humans, but prefer liquid or semi-liquid food because they are unable to bite. To eat solid foods, flies secrete saliva, which is capable of dissolving substances of varying hardness.
The housefly can be found throughout Russia, but the closer to the south, the milder and warmer the climate and the more abundant this insect is. It is very difficult to fight him, but it is possible. The most effective are ordinary insect nets, which can be placed in window and door openings, and sticky tapes, which have a certain kind of smell that attracts flies - they sit on the tape, stick and cannot fly away. It is not recommended to use fumigators and various chemical baits, especially if there are pregnant women, children or pets in the house, since these products release harmful substances into the air.
The adhesive tape needs to be changed every 2-3 months or as it becomes full of flies.
Hoverfly
Hoverflies (or syrphids) are very similar in appearance to wasps. Even the behavior of these insects is identical: syrphids can freeze in place during flight, continuing to flap their wings, but they are completely harmless to humans - they do not bite like wasps.
Hover flies get their name from the sound that is produced when their wings work - it is very similar to the murmur of water.
Hoverflies are found mainly in fields, orchards and vegetable gardens, where there are many umbelliferous and compound-flowering plants. Like all insects, they are most active during the daytime during warm seasons, and hibernate in the winter.
Hoverflies are harmless creatures
Hover flies have a small body covered with alternating black and yellow stripes. They have only one pair of transparent wings and huge brown eyes. Hoverflies have a long proboscis, which they use to obtain nectar; They do not bite either people or animals.
The wasp's body is more segmented
Syrphids feed mainly on plant nectar, but they can also feast on aphids, eggs of various insects and spider mites. They are not attracted to human food at all.
Wasp flies lay 150–200 eggs at a time; The laying is done mainly in the habitats of aphids, which are very convenient for the larvae to hunt. They appear 2–4 days after the eggs are laid and look like small worms chopped off at the back. The larvae feed on their own, becoming more and more voracious every day; Thus, in 2–3 weeks of their life they are able to eat more than 2 thousand aphids. Then the larvae turn into pupae, from which an adult emerges after 7–10 days.
Hoverfly larvae are very lazy, but their hunt for aphids looks quite interesting: as soon as the victim is noticed, the worm rises, begins to sway from side to side and after a few moments very quickly pounces on the prey, instantly devouring it. To get more food, you need to move. To do this, the larva “rolls” the mass of its body from one end to the other, thus moving in space.
Aphids parasitize plants
Hoverflies do not live long: on average, 1–1.5 months, but even in such a short life they bring a lot of benefits to the garden, eating a variety of insects. Many summer residents create favorable conditions for the life of hoverflies so that they settle on their territory and save them from pests. There is no need to get rid of syrphids.
Green fly
The green (or carrion) fly is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful insects: it has a neat glossy body of emerald color, large brown eyes that go well with a pair of smoky wings. All its legs have tentacles to which bacteria and microorganisms stick, which this fly carries over long distances.
The green fly has an incredibly beautiful color
It is a pity that such a beautiful creature feeds on carrion and rot, so it must be driven away and even destroyed, and not admired as one would like. The carrion fly lives on animal carcasses, in household waste and in feces, but is sometimes found on flowers with a very strong sweet smell.
Green flies are also found on flowers with a pronounced sweet aroma
Green flies lay up to 180 eggs in the same place where they feed - in rotten food and bodies. Females try to hide their eggs as deep as possible so that when the larva is born (and this happens after 6–48 hours), it has a lot of food. Flies remain at the larval stage for 3 to 9 days, after which they crawl into the soil, where they turn into pupae. After another 10–17 days, an adult fly appears and climbs to the surface.
Green flies live 2–2.5 months (if you count from laying eggs); during the winter they hibernate in the foliage and bark of trees.
You should not allow carrion flies to appear in your home, as they will carry on their paws a huge amount of bacteria from corpses and feces, which will at a minimum cause poisoning and intestinal diseases. The most effective means against these flies are insect nets and ordinary adhesive tapes, which have a pleasant smell for flies. If you don't have pets at home, you can buy a flytrap plant.
The flycatcher is a very beautiful plant that feeds on the blood of insects
Beetle fly
Honeybee moths belong to the hoverfly family, but they look like bees rather than wasps. They have a rather large body - on average, 1.5 cm in length, the abdomen is quite “plump”, which is why these flies resemble bees. The body is brown in color with large reddish-yellow spots on the sides. Unlike other flies, the flies are covered with very small hairs - even the eyes and limbs have hair.
Another name for the bee-bearing silage is the tenacious silice.
Beekeepers live near plants with strong-smelling flowers, the nectar of which they feed on. Adults are absolutely harmless to both people and insects, so there is no point in specially breeding them, and there is also no reason to destroy them.
Illices lay their eggs in various sewage, so the entry of eggs or larvae into the human body (for example, from unwashed hands or food) can lead to infection with intestinal diseases (for example, enteritis).
The larva is born 18–48 hours after laying eggs, the length of its body reaches two centimeters, but the special breathing tube with which the worm breathes can stretch as much as 10 cm. This is due to the fact that the larvae live in sewage, and You should breathe only clean air.
The flies are most active from July to October; in cold weather, these flies hibernate.
The bee has a hairier and more segmented body
Since only eggs and larvae of bee flies can cause harm to humans, wash your hands thoroughly after coming from the street, rinse food and make sure that rotting household waste does not accumulate at home, where the bee fly could lay its eggs.
Ktyr
Ktyri are large predatory flies that destroy other insects: mosquitoes, midges, beetles and even bees. They feed exclusively on flying organisms and do not harm either humans or their crops, so they should not be scared away or even destroyed - although they are ugly to look at, they are good helpers in the fight against pests and blood-sucking insects.
Ktyr can fight even a hornet
These flies really don’t look very attractive: a small dark brown body completely covered with hairs, huge brown eyes, a sting with poison that they inject into their prey. The limbs, incredibly long compared to the body, are also covered with hairs. It is with them that the ktyrs catch their prey in the air. Long, powerful dark brown wings with small light stripes help keep themselves and their prey in flight.
Chtyrs lay their eggs in various rotting matter: wood, soil, and so on. As soon as the larvae emerge from the eggs, they immediately begin to destroy small insects that are nearby. Often one larva becomes a victim of another (and the adult can eat its own kind).
Ktyrs, like all flies, live 2–2.5 months and are active in the warm season. They are found in cities, in gardens, and far from people.
Tsetse fly
The tsetse fly is the most dangerous fly on the entire planet Earth, which, fortunately, lives in Africa. She is a carrier of the so-called sleeping sickness, from which you can die if timely medical care is not provided. This fly feeds exclusively on the blood of animals and people.
Bernhard Grzimek (zoologist and conservationist) in his book “No Place for Wild Animals” said that it was thanks to the tsetse fly that the habitats of large wild animals, practically untouched by humans, were preserved in equatorial Africa.
The female gives birth to larvae, which immediately become pupae, in a dark place, closer to the soil. This is where the pupae will develop over several days until they develop into adults.
The tsetse fly is very beautiful, although the color of its back is unremarkable - gray
Tsetse flies are unusually beautiful: the insect's chest is reddish-gray, covered with longitudinal dark brown stripes, a yellow-gray abdomen, a gray back with a black-milky pattern, a long branched proboscis, transparent powerful wings, which the insect folds one on top of the other and on which is clearly visible coffee-colored drawing. But do not be fascinated by this creature - they are dangerous for humans.
The wings of the tsetse fly have an unusual hatchet pattern.
If you travel to Africa, be sure to get vaccinated against sleeping sickness.
We are surrounded by countless different insects: some of them harm humans, some, on the contrary, help with various pests and save the harvest. You need to be able to distinguish friends among all insects and not kill them, but create favorable conditions for their life. Chemicals, of course, are better at destroying various insects, including aphids, but they are not as safe for humans as, for example, hoverflies. Use the helpers that nature itself gives you
Feeding flies
Based on the nature of imaginal feeding, the following groups of flies are distinguished: aphages, nectarophages, coprophages, hematophages, necrophages and polyphags.
Moreover, in each of these groups a certain type of imaginal nutrition corresponds to a certain type of larval nutrition. Afagi
do not feed as adults. The larvae are obligate parasites of animals. They can parasitize humans. Gadflies belong to this group.
Nectarophages.
The food for the imago is mainly plant juices and sometimes animal droppings. The larvae develop as obligate parasites of animals, and less commonly of humans. A typical representative is Wohlfart's fly.
Obligate coprophages
They feed on human and animal excrement in both adult and larval states. Adults consume plant juices as additional nutrition. This group includes some grassland species of the Muscidae family.
Coprophagous facultative.
The main source of food for adult flies is human and animal excrement. However, they willingly use human food. The larvae develop as facultative or obligate coprophages; predation is possible. A typical representative is the house fly.
Obligate hematophages
In the imaginal stage they feed on the blood of humans and animals, actively obtaining it through the skin with the help of a specially designed proboscis. The larvae feed on excrement, as well as decaying remains of animals and plants. A typical representative is the Autumn Zhigalka
Hematophagous facultative.
Adults feed on sweat and mucous secretions. They willingly lick the blood protruding from wounds. They cannot extract blood themselves through intact skin. An additional source of nutrition is human and animal excrement, plant juices. The larvae are obligate coprophages. A typical representative is the market fly.
Necrophages are facultative.
Adults feed mainly on animal carcasses. Meat and food waste, excrement, and plant juices are also used. The larvae develop as facultative necrophages. They can parasitize wounds of animals and humans. Blowflies belong to this group.
Polyphages
in adulthood they feed on human and animal excrement, human food, food waste of plant and animal origin, secretions of wounds and mucous membranes. The larvae feed on a wide variety of substances. Sometimes they can develop as parasites. A typical polyphage is the housefly.
Respiratory and digestive organs
The structure of the respiratory system is very different from the human one. You can explain how a fly breathes as follows. The fly has no blood. She inhales air through holes located on the sides between the head and the rear end of the body. Each “nostril” turns into a tube that forms a network of air inside the body. Such air vessels supply oxygen to all other organs, i.e., the heart of a fly is the same thin tube that periodically contracts and pushes air inside.
The digestive system of these insects is even more interesting. Their main diet consists of human food remains and organic matter. The fly's mouth secretes saliva, which contains specific enzymes that can dissolve tissues and solids. First, with the help of a proboscis, the fly injects saliva into the food it finds and waits for its action. After the food turns into liquid, the insect begins to lick it with its mouth. After saturation, the insect begins to defecate frequently - almost every 5-15 minutes. She regurgitates the digested contents of the stomach, leaving small black discharge on various objects, dishes and food.
Pusher flies
Pusher flies are small predatory insects that are found in almost all parts of the planet. These flies received this name because of their bizarre behavior. Before mating, during courtship, male tuskers gather in flocks and begin to perform peculiar dances
In this interesting way they attract the attention of females. In countries with particularly warm climates, such performances can be observed throughout the summer.
In addition to the pleasant spectacle of dancing, males gain favor with females by bringing gifts. Usually these are dead small flies of other species, which the female eats after mating. But quite often male pushers turn out to be very greedy gentlemen. In the most unceremonious way, they take their gifts from the female in order to use them to attract another female for mating.
The body of the pusher fly is gray-brown in color and up to 15 mm long. The belly has 5–7 ring-shaped divisions. When at rest, the wings fit tightly to the back. The head is small and round with a long proboscis hanging down. The eyes of males are usually as close to each other as possible. In the oral apparatus of the fly there are lower and upper jaws in the form of four bristles. Insect larvae live in the ground.
Reproductive system
The genital organs are located in the abdomen. In males they are represented by testes, in females - by eggs, accessory glands and ducts. The structure of males is distinguished by the presence of special “grabs”. To raise offspring, each female lays from 70 to 150 eggs. Some species are viviparous (meat and cadaverous).
Interesting!
The penises of male flies were studied by Charles Darwin, who was amazed at their complex structure and the presence of growths and hooks. Modern scientists have found that their genitals have the ability to twist up to 180°, and some types of flies can rotate it up to 360°. This is necessary for ease of mating, so as not to turn upside down.
Building[edit | edit code]
All flies have some morphological characteristics that are similar to each other.
The body of an adult is divided into three sections: head, chest and abdomen. The entire body of insects is densely covered with hairs.
Most of the lateral surface of the head is occupied by compound eyes, behind which there are three simple ocelli. Antennae or antennae are attached to the front, above the base of which there is a frontal vesicle. The latter is reduced in some species. The proboscis, the oral apparatus, extends from the lower surface of the head. In most species it is of the licking type. In blood-sucking flies it is of the piercing-sucking or cutting-sucking type.
The thoracic region is represented mainly by the mesothorax. The prothorax and metathorax are very small in size. The upper surface of the mesothorax is called the mesonotum. Its back part is represented by a shield having a triangular shape. On the sides of the chest there are anterior and posterior pairs of thoracic spiracles.
The abdomen of a fly can significantly increase in volume due to stretching of the membranes connecting the abdominal segments. This is important for females with mature eggs and engorged individuals. The abdominal spiracles are located on the abdomen. The last segments of the abdomen are part of the reproductive apparatus - the ovipositor in females and the copulatory apparatus in males. The ovipositor is normally retracted into the abdomen. When eggs are laid or larvae are born, it moves out.
The flies' foot is five-segmented; the last segment contains the organs of touch and taste in the form of pulvillas.
The pattern of venation in the wings of flies is an important diagnostic feature.
Most species of flies are oviparous. The eggs are small, oblong in shape. The chorion of the egg is whitish in color, cellular with a dotted sculptural pattern.
Fly larvae are worm-shaped, legless, lacking a separate head, yellowish, or less often brownish in color. At the pointed anterior end there are movable mouth hooks that serve for scraping the nutrient substrate and moving the larvae. The larvae are equipped with 2 pairs of spiracles located on the first thoracic segment and on the posterior end of the body.
There are 3 stages of larval development. Moreover, the last, stage III, includes 2 periods - feeding and prepupa. At the end of the prepupal period, the larva molts. The larva of round stitch flies molts without shedding the cuticle, which forms the puparia. When a newborn fly emerges, the puparium opens along a rounded line (hence the name “round sutures”). The larvae of straight-sew flies shed their cuticle during pupation. When the adult insect hatches, the pupal shell is torn in a straight or T-shaped line (hence the name “straight-suture”)[10][11].
The role of the limbs
It should be noted that a fly needs legs not only to rest between flights or to walk. Amazing fact: each limb of this insect is equipped with taste buds! As soon as a fly lands on a particular object, it immediately determines the degree of its edibility.
Attention! In addition to taste, flies also have tactile receptors on their legs. The limbs perform several important functions at once, so flies carefully monitor their cleanliness.
How do flies wash themselves?
Flies do not wash themselves in the usual sense of the word. They clean their legs and wings frequently and thoroughly. Despite the fact that flies are carriers of many diseases and are considered one of the “dirtiest” creatures, they strictly observe the rules of personal hygiene.
Why do flies rub their legs?
Anyone who has ever observed the behavior of flies has noticed how often and diligently they rub their legs against each other. The fact is that while walking, the surface of the bristles becomes dirty. Small dust particles and other debris prevent full contact of the paws with the surface.
When a fly rubs its legs, it not only cleans them, but also stimulates the secretion of a sticky secretion. Thus, this simple action provides the insect with freedom of movement.
The structure of the legs of a fly
The first step is to figure out how many legs a fly has. This is a representative of the order Diptera, and, like all insects of this order, has three pairs of limbs.
The housefly's long, thin legs end in hook-shaped claws, thanks to which it can cling to any uneven surfaces. But these hooks are useless if the fly needs to stay on a smooth surface.
Foot under a microscope
Each insect leg has two anatomical pads - pulvillas. They are equipped with many tiny bristles. At the end of each of them there is a disc-shaped suction cup. The surface of the suction cups is regularly moistened with a special adhesive substance consisting mainly of lipids. It is this fat-like secretion that, due to high surface tension, ensures the adhesion of the insect’s legs to any smooth surface.
Brain structure
When thinking about the brain, many people see a picture of a round substance with convolutions pop up before their eyes. With a fly things are different. The Diptera brain consists of 3 sections, namely:
- tritocerebrum;
- protocerebrum;
- deutocerebrum.
Despite its fairly simple structure, the brain is responsible for the functioning of the entire body. At the same time, the fly is not able to think. She acts instinctively.
Important: in the body there are nerve nodes called ganglia, which connect to the “brain”.
Protocerebrum
This is the largest part of the brain, responsible for coordinating any life process of an insect. This part of the “control center” contains a huge number of neurons. They are responsible for analyzing and processing the information received.
Due to the arrangement of cells in the outer layer and the fibers leading to them, the fly’s brain can be compared to the control organ of a human or animal.
Inside the protocerebrum there are additional sections. Which are divided into:
- central body;
- intercerebral part;
- protocerebral lobes;
- protocerebral pons;
- ventral bodies;
- optic lobes;
- stalked bodies.
Deutocerebrum
The section is located in front of the tritocerebrum. Responsible for the nerve endings going to the antennae. "Antennae", the only fibers extending from the secondary brain. In most cases, they begin with roots:
- sensory;
- motor.
In some species of flies these roots are not observed.
Deutocerebrum differs from protocerebrum in its simplicity. The structure diagram corresponds to a normal ganglion. This can only be explained by the fact that this section is the nerve center of only one segment - the mustache.
Other organs, systems
The fly's brain is represented by many nerve plexuses located in different parts of the body. Animals do not have such a complex system as humans. The brain plays a major role in coordinating the behavior of the insect, but a completely different organ is responsible for reflexes - the reflex arc. The tiny brain consists of hundreds of thousands of neurons and, despite the apparent simplicity of its structure, allows flies to perform incredible tricks.
On a note!
The nervous system and brain allow insects to determine in a fraction of milliseconds the correct direction of movement away from danger. The memory lasts only 3 seconds, there is no intelligence in its full understanding.
The circulatory system is represented by the aorta, pterygoid muscle, dorsal vessel, and heart. However, the heart of a fly has an extremely simple structure and does not perform the same functions as in humans and animals. The fly's blood is yellowish or colorless. Its main function is the transfer of nutritional components. Does not participate in oxygen saturation of organs, does not contain red blood cells.
The respiratory system is represented by many tracheas throughout the body. Opens outwards with the help of spiracles. The trachea branches into numerous capillaries and has a complex structure. They deliver oxygen directly to various organs and tissues. 10 pairs of spiracles are developed, 2 pairs on the chest, the rest on the abdomen.
Generation or life cycle
Now let's talk about the development of the fly from a scientific point of view. The life cycle of a fly follows the path of complete transformation of insects.
Attention! The complete development cycle of insects includes four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult!
Flies are capable of laying up to one hundred and fifty eggs at a time. During her short life, the female is capable of laying more than six eggs. It is also interesting how flies lay eggs. They are able to place them in any food that has begun to spoil, which is why it is so important to monitor the accumulation of garbage and remove it from the apartment in a timely manner.
Fly eggs are very difficult to see, as they are less than one millimeter in size.
Larvae
The eggs are incubated very quickly, and literally the next day small larvae - maggots - appear. They emerge from the egg very tiny, but during development they are capable of growing more than eight hundred times.
The entire development process of maggots lasts a little more than a week under favorable conditions: an optimal temperature of 20-25 degrees Celsius and high humidity of the air and substrate in which they develop.
Maggots are in great demand among fishing enthusiasts, but for a housefly they are small and are not suitable for baiting a hook. Usually the bait is supplied by other types of flies, the so-called meat flies.
Pupae
The next stage of fly development is the pupa. The larva stops feeding and increasing body weight and size and gradually pupates. Anglers call pupating maggots caster and are also used for bait.
The caster is similar to the larva, only it has a harder shell and a brownish body color. The fly also spends about one week in this stage of development.
Our help! At low temperatures, the fly larva is not able to pupate. Therefore, fishing maggots can be stored in the refrigerator for six months or more.
Imago
A week after pupation, the last stage of flies appears. As stated earlier, adult individuals live on average for about twenty-four days, and they are able to lay eggs almost every two or three days. So these same 75 tons per year come out!
Tritocerebrum
The department is usually called the tertiary brain. His position is clear. The tritocerebrum is located between the other sections. However, the brain does not have a specific shape. The only thing we can say with certainty is that it is divided into;
- right;
- left.
There is a small jumper between the two halves. It passes under the intestines.
The main function of the tritocerebrum is to control the mouth and upper lip. The second may be absent in some types of flies.
Important: Tritocerebrum is associated with the sympathetic nervous system.
Short description
Flies belong to the order Diptera. Unlike other insects, they have only one pair of membranous wings. The movable head is quite large in size, and the oral apparatus is a special proboscis. The purpose of the hind wings is to regulate balance.
The special skeleton of these pests and strong muscles allow them to develop high speed in flight and stay in the air for quite a long time. In addition to natural flies, synanthropic flies, which exist near humans, are considered widespread. Among them, the most famous are, for example, true flies, blue, green and gray blowflies and hoverflies.
Features of house flies
These pests are prominent representatives of synanthropic insects - those whose life is connected with human habitation. People constantly struggle with this type of fly. There are many quite effective means for this, but it is not yet possible to get rid of insects once and for all. Unlike bedbugs and cockroaches, flies are exclusively diurnal.
What are blowflies?
These insects got their name because they breed on animal corpses. According to the color of the back, there are gray, green and blue blowflies. The appearance of gray pests resembles ordinary house flies. Adult females do not lay eggs. They immediately hatch the larvae, having previously selected a suitable place for them, which can be the decomposing body of an animal, fruit rot or manure.
Green (carrion) flies have a beautiful appearance, despite the fact that they are partial to carrion and various impurities. They feed on rotting organic matter, where females lay eggs - up to 200 at a time. The resulting larvae leave the carrion and hide in the soil to pupate. This stage lasts 1-2 weeks. After this time, an adult fly emerges from the surface.
What are hover flies?
However, not all flies are pests. Hover flies are very reminiscent of wasps - both in external characteristics and in their behavior. In summer, they can most often be seen near Asteraceae or umbelliferous plants. The body of the insect is covered with black and yellow stripes, and on the semicircular head there are large dark brown eyes. The diet of adults consists of flower nectar.
The female lays approximately 100–180 eggs at a time, so 2–4 generations of these insects can develop during the season.
Hover flies are beneficial insects because they destroy aphids, which cause irreparable damage to trees in the garden.
Some gardeners try to create all the conditions for flies of this species to breed in their areas. To do this, they specially plant umbrella plants, such as carrots, dill or parsley.
Human interaction
Houseflies are a real nuisance to humans, especially on hot days. They are carriers of diseases, especially pathogens of intestinal infections, worm eggs, eye diseases and tuberculosis. Larvae can cause tissue and intestinal myiases
To protect against flies, preventive measures are taken (storage of sewage, which serves as both food for flies and their larvae and a source of pathogenic microorganisms, out of the reach of flies) and various exterminatory measures (use of insecticides in places where larvae develop, poisoned baits, sticky tape traps and fly swatters in those places where adult insects are abundant). Using nets and other devices, flies are prevented from entering living spaces.
Maggots are used by humans as a popular fishing bait that attracts many species of fish. Often maggots are specially bred and “cleaned” by placing them in a container with sawdust, and only then sold. Fishermen store purchased maggots in the refrigerator to slow down pupation.
Sources
- https://vseonauke.com/1120405511397706563/skolko-nog-u-muhi/
- https://apest.ru/muhi/o-muhah/stroenie-muhi/
- https://PokemonGoy.ru/muhi/skolko-lapok-u.html
- https://bioros.net/vsyo-obo-vsyom/skol-ko-nog-u-muhi.html
- https://notklop.ru/muhi/2-fakty/23-stroenie-muhi/
- https://WikiParazit.ru/babochki-i-moshki/unikalnost-lapok-muhi.html
- https://zelenplaneta.ru/muhi/est-li-u-muh-i-drugih-nasekomyh-mozg.html
- https://rci76.ru/muhi-i-moshki/kakogo-cveta-krov-u-muhi.html
[collapse]
Flies in art[edit | edit code]
In literature[edit | edit code]
- A children's fairy tale in verse, “The Tsokotuha Fly,” written by the writer Korney Chukovsky.
- Fable by I. I. Dmitriev “The Fly”.
- J.P. Sartre's play “Flies”.
- "Praise to the fly." From this ancient Greek work written by Lucian, we know the proverb “making mountains out of molehills.”
- Poem "The Fly" by Joseph Brodsky.
In the cinema[edit | edit code]
- The film “The Fly” (1986), where the main character, a scientist, becomes an insect-like monster as a result of a failed experiment.
- Mukha Mukha is one of the main characters in the movie Darwin's Mission.
- Zipper the Fly is one of the main characters in the animated series Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers.
- The film "The Fly" (2012) is an Indian film where the hero is reborn in the body of a fly to avenge his death and protect his beloved.
- Animation “Life Moment”, which depicts the life of a fly.
In music[edit | edit code]
- The song “Source of Infection” by the group “Zvuki Mu” (1989).
- Album by Australian rock band AC/DC - “Fly on the Wall” (1985)
Other[edit | edit code]
- Golden flies (reward)
- The Mukha studio, located in the city of Ufa, produces cartoons and graphics for cinema.
Pitcher plants
Plants with some leaves that look like bright, pitcher-shaped flowers. But even about these plants it cannot be said that they use trap flowers. They also have tube leaves as traps, at the bottom of which liquid accumulates. Flies fly to the bait and drown in it. Because it is actually a concentrated digestive enzyme.
We suggest you read: How to get rid of a mole in a greenhouse
The pitcher plants come in a variety of bright colors, while the actual flowers of the pitcher plants are small and inconspicuous.
Predatory plants: nepenthes, sarracenia and stapelia
Nepenthes
Inhabitant of humid tropical regions. The length of Nepenthes, depending on their type, is 2.5-50 cm. The largest ones can catch and digest a small mammal. Or enter into symbiosis with an animal. The large Nepenthes lowii, in addition to insects, uses mountain tupai dung as a source of organic matter. And the animal feasts on nectar.
Sarracenia
The family consists of 10 species. The fly trap is a twisted funnel-shaped leaf growing from the root. The plant is native to North America. Sarracenia was grown as a houseplant in pre-revolutionary Russia. It grows well in pots.
Breeders have already developed new cultivated varieties of sarracenia that can be grown indoors. With good care, you can achieve flowering of sarracenia.
Stapelia
A plant that is mistakenly considered a cactus. It blooms with large dark red flowers that emit the smell of rotten meat. But it cannot be used to kill flies, except to thin out their offspring.
The purpose of the slipway is to attract pollinating flies, not to catch insects. Stapelia attracts blowflies. Necrophages, arriving at the smell of carrion, try to lay eggs in a flower. During the process of reproduction, they get dirty in the pollen of the flower and transfer it to the next slipway. When growing stapelia as a houseplant, pollen is wasted, as are fly eggs, since the stapelia flower lives for about a day, after which it dies. The larvae that do not have time to hatch die along with it.
2. House flies are relatively young insects on the evolutionary time scale.
The family of true flies are ancient creatures that appeared on Earth during the Permian period more than 250 million years ago. But houseflies appear relatively young compared to their dipteran cousins. The oldest fossil remains of these insects are only 70 million years old. This suggests that the housefly's closest ancestors appeared during the Cretaceous period, shortly before the infamous meteorite struck that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
House flies rarely fly long distances
If it were not for reproductive limitations imposed by environmental conditions and predation, the planet would be buried under a swarm of flies. Musca domestica has a short life cycle of only 6 days, and the average female clutch contains about 120 eggs.
We invite you to read: Boric acid for cockroaches - a reliable and affordable folk remedy
Scientists have calculated what would happen if one pair of flies could reproduce without restrictions or mortality among the offspring. Result? Two flies in just 5 months will lead to the appearance of 191,010,000,000,000,000,000,000 descendants, which will cover the planet with a layer of several meters.
The wing movement of a housefly can reach up to 1000 beats per minute. This is not a typo! Surprisingly, they tend to be slow fliers, flying at speeds of around 7 km per hour. Flies move when environmental conditions force them to do so. In urban areas, where people live in close proximity and there is a lot of garbage, houseflies have small territories and fly within 1000 meters.
Houseflies are found almost everywhere there are people.
Houseflies are native to Central Asia, but they now live in almost every corner of the globe.
With the exception of Antarctica and perhaps a few outlying islands, houseflies live everywhere there are people. They are synanthropic organisms that depend on humans, their homes and domestic animals. Since people have been traveling since time immemorial by ship, plane, train or horse-drawn carriage, flies always accompany us along the way. On the contrary, they are rarely found in the desert or in places where there are no people. If humanity ceases to exist, these insects may share our fate.
