Filth Fly Management in Urban Environments - Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies - page 43

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Filth Fly Management in Urban
Environments

Roberto Pereira,* John Cooksey, Rebecca Baldwin and
Philip Koehler
University of Florida, USA

Introduction

development medium is available and the
conditions are adequate for its development.
A female house fl y can oviposit more than
500 eggs that hatch within 24 h. House fl y
eggs are laid in almost any type of warm
organic material such as animal or poultry
manure, fermenting vegetation, rubbish and
other materials.
The larvae can develop very rapidly, in
7 to 10 days, on a variety of organic material
or artifi cial diets (Hogsette, 1992). Once
larval development is complete, the larvae
migrate to drier portions of the breeding
medium to pupate. During warm weather,
two or more generations may be produced
per month. Because of this rapid rate of
development and the large numbers of eggs
produced by the female, large populations
build up.
House fl ies feed by using sponging-type
mouthparts, and regurgitate liquid on food
to liquefy it before ingesting the nutrients.
This feeding habit, their breeding in fi lthy
places and media (Farkas et al ., 1998), and
their tendency to invade homes and other
buildings, are important factors in the
spread of many intestinal diseases such as
dysentery and diarrhoea.
Flesh fl ies (Fig. 4.2) are in the family
Sarcophagidae and the genus Sarcophaga.
These fl ies are scavengers that develop and
feed on carrion and rotting meat or meat

Several kinds of non-biting fl ies can be
found in and around farms, residences,
medical facilities and food-handling estab-
lishments, bringing annoyance and dis-
comfort to humans and other animals.
These fl ies are usually scavengers in nature,
and many are capable of transmitting
diseases. Fly species that become pest
problems in urban environments can be
divided into two groups according to their
size and habits. Large fl ies are those that
usually breed outside of buildings, normally
on decaying organic matter or animal faeces.
Small fl ies breed inside buildings by feeding
on decaying organic matter, or other
bacterial and fungal growth on a variety of
materials.

Large fl ies

Most common large fl ies are the house fl y,
fl esh fl ies, blow fl ies, bottle fl ies and soldier
fl ies. House fl ies (Fig. 4.1) are the most
common fl y throughout the world and
represent the most serious fl y involved in
the transmission of diseases in many areas
of the world. The fl y is well adapted to
many different environments and can build
up large populations in a very short time if