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Home / Flies / House Fly
Lesser House Fly
As its name implies, the lesser housefly is noticeably smaller than the Musca domestica, or standard housefly. It is approximately five to six millimeters in length and yellowish in coloration. The lesser housefly's thorax hosts three black stripes.
Females are attracted to decaying fecal matter as egg-laying sites and can be a particular nuisance in chicken houses and other livestock grounds. Their eggs are white and thin, measuring two millimeters in length. Maggots develop fully within five to seven days and enter the pupal stage. , During the larva stage, they feed ravenously on the material on which the eggs were laid. Lesser housefly requires a period of nine to 14 days.
Lesser houseflies move slightly faster than other species and fly in jerky, darting patterns. Lesser house fly eggs are capable of floating and can be found resting on standing water. Like common houseflies, lesser houseflies are known carriers of pathogens, including typhoid, cholera, malaria and anthrax. They collect pathogens from fecal matter and other decaying material, and then transfer it to humans by landing on exposed food and other surfaces.
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