Each female fly can lay up to 500 eggs (in five batches of 100 eggs each). The eggs are white at about 1.2 mm in length. Within a day, the larvae (maggots) hatch from the eggs; they live and feed in (usually dead and decaying) organic material, such as garbage or feces. They are pale whitish, 3-9 mm long, thinner at the mouth end, and have no legs. After several molts, the maggots crawl to a dry cool place and transform into pupae, colored reddish or brown and about 8mm long. The adult flies then emerge from the pupae. (This whole cycle is k ...

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Housefly, Housefly - Physical description, Housefly - Life cycle, Housefly - Typical behaviors, Housefly - Sex determination mechanism, Housefly - Evolution, Housefly - Flies and humans

Read more here: » Housefly: Encyclopedia II - Housefly - Life cycle

See also:

Housefly, Housefly - Physical description, Housefly - Life cycle, Housefly - Typical behaviors, Housefly - Sex determination mechanism, Housefly - Evolution, Housefly - Flies and humans

Read more here: » Housefly: Encyclopedia II - Housefly - Life cycle

Even though the order of flies (Diptera) is much older, true houeseflies evolved in the beginning of the Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago. They are thought to have originated in the southern Palearctic region, particularly the Middle East. Because of their close, commensal relationship with man, they probably owe their worldwide dispersal to co-migration with humans (see also Flies and Humans). [1][2] ...

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Housefly, Housefly - Physical description, Housefly - Life cycle, Housefly - Typical behaviors, Housefly - Sex determination mechanism, Housefly - Evolution, Housefly - Flies and humans

Read more here: » Housefly: Encyclopedia II - Housefly - Evolution

The adults are 5-8 mm long. Their thorax is greyish, with four dark longitudinal lines on the back. The underside of the abdomen is yellowish. The whole body is covered with hair. They have reddish compound eyes. The females are slightly larger than the males and have a much larger space between the eyes. Like most Diptera, houseflies have only one pair of wings; the hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid in flight stability. Characteristically, the fourth ...

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Housefly, Housefly - Physical description, Housefly - Life cycle, Housefly - Typical behaviors, Housefly - Sex determination mechanism, Housefly - Evolution, Housefly - Flies and humans

Read more here: » Housefly: Encyclopedia II - Housefly - Physical description

Houseflies can only take in liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to pre-digest it, and then suck it back in. They also throw up partially digested matter and eat it again. The flies can walk on vertical planes, and can even hang upside down from ceilings. This is accomplished with the surface tension of liquids secreted by glands near their feet. Lacking eyelids, the flies continually clean their eyes with their forelegs. Most of their taste and smell sensor cells are on hairs on their legs, this is w ...

See also:

Housefly, Housefly - Physical description, Housefly - Life cycle, Housefly - Typical behaviors, Housefly - Sex determination mechanism, Housefly - Evolution, Housefly - Flies and humans

Read more here: » Housefly: Encyclopedia II - Housefly - Typical behaviors