(Musca domestica), an insect of the family Muscidae. The body length is 6–8 mm. There are two forms, or subspecies. The subspecies Musca domestica domestica is distributed in temperate zones throughout the world. In the USSR it is found primarily in the steppe, forest-steppe, and forest zones. The subspecies Musca domestica vicina is distributed in the southern latitudes of the temperate zone, the subtropics, and the tropics. In the USSR it is found in Transcaucasia, Middle Asia, and Southern Primor’e.
At one laying a female deposits an average of 120 eggs, each measuring 1–1.2 mm long; in its lifetime it lays 900 eggs. The egg develops in eight to 50 hours. The larvae, which measure up to 13 mm long and are white, develop for three to 25 days and then metamorphose into a pupa, forming a puparium. The pupal phase lasts from three days to several months (when there is overwintering). In temperate latitudes the housefly may produce up to nine generations each year; in the subtropics and tropics, up to 15 generations. It winters in the larval or pupal phases; fertilized females winter in the adult phase.
The housefly is widespread in areas of human habitation. It is the carrier of a number of infectious diseases, particularly intestinal infections; it also transmits the ova of worms.
Prophylactic measures include keeping manure and sewage in tightly covered containers, removal of refuse every three or four days, and cleanliness in dwellings and stockyards. Extermination measures include the monthly treatment of toilets, refuse containers, stockyards, and food-preparation machinery with Dipterex preparations; the use of sweet attractants mixed with Dipterex or Formalin, and the hanging of strips of flypaper. To destroy the eggs and larvae of houseflies, breeding places are treated with preparations of malathion, Creolin, or naphtha solvent.
A. A. SHTAKEL’BERG and K. A. BREEV