Fly Facts for Kids

21 Fly Facts For Kids

1. Housefly is the common name of a fly (Diptera order) that is a member of the Musca genus.
2. The housefly is the most common fly in human-made structures.
3. The binomial name for the housefly is Musca domestica.
4. Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus was the first person to describe the housefly in 1758.
5. The housefly has the largest distribution of all insects and is found on every continent worldwide.
6. The housefly has migrated around the world due to its commensal relationship with humans.
7. The housefly evolved into its modern day self sometime during the Cenozoic Era (during the last 66 million years).
8. The housefly has red eyes and varies between grey to black.
9. Houseflies are omnivores and will eat virtually anything.
10. Houseflies don’t eat solid founds like humans, they regurgitate saliva onto the food they want to eat and suck it up as it liquefies.
11. The average adult housefly has a length between 0.236 and 0.275 inches
12. The average adult housefly has a wingspan between 0.511 and 0.59 inches.
13. The lifespan of a housefly is between two and four weeks, including the larvae stage.
14. The lifecycle of a housefly includes an egg, larvae, and adult form.
15. A female housefly will on average lay 100 eggs, usually on feces, food waste or dead animals.
16. The eggs hatch into a maggot (larvae) and spend two to five days in this form before turning into a pupa.
17. They emerge from the pupa three to six days later as an adult housefly.
18. Houseflies are common household pests and infestations occur when there is ample food available for long periods of time.
19. Houseflies can transmit pathogens to human food via their body and it is believed they can transmit over 100 different pathogens.
20. The Japanese used houseflies in World War 2 to transmit pathogens like Cholera in China.
21. A popular movie related to houseflies is the science fiction horror movie The Fly that came out in 1986.

Fly Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on house flies. Below are three various pictures of house flies. These pictures should help you better understand houseflies, the most annoying house guest.

A picture of a fly on a stick.

A picture of flies eating a fruit.

An extreme close-up of a fly.