Flies are holometabolous insects of the order Diptera. There are about 125000 species of flies discovered in the world. They feed on liquid food such as blood, lymph fluid and saps by using their spongy mouth. If they found solid food, they will produce saliva to dissolve the solid food. The examples of flies act as pests for human are house fly, bottle fly, flesh fly, phorid fly and fruit fly.
Morphology
A fly has a head with a pair of large compound eyes, a pair of wings and 3 pairs of legs which attach to the thorax and an abdomen part. It also has a pair of haltered wings that function as a balance device on the thorax part.
House fly (Musca domestica)
An adult housefly can grows up to 8–12mm long. The thorax of a house fly has four longitudinal dark lines. Usually they are grey or black in colour. They can easily found in kitchen area, garbage bin and drainage.
Flesh fly (Sarcophaga spp.)
The body size of flesh flies are differ depend on species. The range of body size of flesh flies is between 4-23mm. The thorax of a flesh fly has three longitudinal dark lines. The can easily found in dead animal carcasses, rotting organic matters and garbage bin.
Bottle fly (Lucilia sericata and Calliphora vomitoria)
The size of a bottle fly is about 10-14mm long. There are two type of bottle flies, which are green bottle fly and blue bottle fly. Green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) is metallic green in colour while blue bottle fly (Calliphora vomitoria) is metallic blue in colour. Sometimes they can be found in food processing factory and rubbish deposal area, they seldom appear in kitchen area.
Phorid fly (Phoridae family)
Phorid fly is a type of tiny true flies. Its body size is only about 0.5-6mm depending on species. Phorid flies are easy to be identify because of their humpbacked characteristic. Phorid flies are found worldwide. They often found in food processing factory, rotting organic matters and drainage.
Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster)
Fruit fly is also a type of tiny true flies. A fruit fly only can grows up to 2.5mm long. They are yellow-brown in colour with a pair of red compound eyes. They can easily found in rotten fruits
| Features | House fly (Musca domestica) | Bottle fly (Lucilia sericata and Calliphora vomitoria) | Flesh fly (Sarcophaga spp.) | Phorid fly (Phoridae family) | Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body size (mm) | Medium size 8–12 | Medium size 10-14 | Large size 4-23 | Small size 0.5-6 | Small size 2-2.5 |
| Colour | Grey or black | Metallic green Metallic blue | Grey or black | Yellow-brown Dark grey | Yellow-brown |
| Characteristics | 4 longitudinal dark stripes on thorax | Metallic colour | 3 longitudinal dark stripes on thorax | Humpbacked at thorax region | Yellow-brown in colour with a pair of red compound eyes |
| Habitat | Kitchen area Drainage area Rubbish disposal area | Food-processing factory Rubbish disposal area | Dead carcasses Rotten organic matters Rubbish disposal area | Food-processing factory Rotten organic matters | Rotten fruits |
Behavior
Flies have few unique behaviors, one of the behaviors is rubbing. Sometimes we can see that flies are rubbing their fore legs together and rubbing their abdomen region. This behavior help them to remove dust and dirt from their bodies to enhance the sensitivity of their receptors. Besides that, flies love to rest at the narrow area such as threads and wires. Thus, we can combine the fly behaviors with pest control products to develop a successful pest management.
Risks, Economic and Medical Importance
Flies are mechanical vectors for many kind of pathogens such as Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia and eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides. Besides that, flies will also cause diarrhea and vomiting due to the food contamination.
Recommended Pest Control Products
- alpha-cypermethrin 5.92%
- alpha-cypermethrin 2.9% and flufenexuron 2.9%
- beta-cyfluthrin 10.5% and imidacloprid 21%
- deltamethrin 1%
- imidacloprid 10%
- pirimiphos-methyl 49%
- triflumuron 39.7%
Neopeace
Product Description
- Weather Resistant
- Transparent, Optical Clear
- Non-Toxic
- Odourless
- Easy to use
This amazing Neopeace Sticky Spray allows you to prepare your own traps using a cardboard, PE sheet or dustbin lining bags for catching lizards, small flying insects or some times crawling insects too. It is easy to use and is safe for indoor or outdoor with non-toxic, no odour and environmental friendly ingredients.
Suitable to use in: Indoor, Home, Restaurant, Hawker stall, Poultry farm, Vegetable farm, Fish market,Slaughter house, Garden and etc..
Q-Bayt® WG10
Product Overview
Q-Bayt® WG10 is an imidacloprid-based water dispersible granular bait that has been uniquely formulated to attract and control flies fast, making it the ideal solution in managing flies.
Product Description
- Q-Bayt® WG10 also contains BITREX, an extremely bitter substance which helps to prevent ingestion by people and animals.
- Key Product Facts:
- Active ingredients: Imidacloprid 10% w/w.
- Spray less area compared to conventional sprays (Refer to product label for application rates).
- Less time and less active ingredient.
- Excellent knockdown - less than 60 seconds.
- Good residual visual activity - up to 6 weeks.
- High attractiveness – attractants are brightly coloured and sugar-based to make it irresistible to flies.
- Indoor and outdoor use, and on any type of surfaces.
- Bitrex protected – a bittering substance that prevents ingestion by humans and non-target animals.
Zazafly
Product: Zagro Zazafly 500g Active Ingredient: azamethiphos 1% Class: IV Description: ZaZaFly is a granular scatterbait against several multi-resistant fly strains, cockroaches and ants including those which have become resistant to other organophosphate based compounds, pyrethroids and methomyl. It is a fast and effective fly control tool and is a registered product to National Environment Agency. Scatter ZaZaFly at the rate of 2gm. per m2 onto clean and dry area where flies congregate.