Cyclorrhapha

• Cyclorrhapha

  (circular seamed) the stages in the life cycle are: the egg, 3 larval instars, the pupa and the imago (adult)

  
• Cyclorrhapha antennae

  • Consist of three segments
  • The third and largest segment bears a frondlike structure called the arista near its proximal end
  • The antennae are directed ventrally, but the arista usually projects anteriorly
• Cyclorrhapha body parts

  • wings
  • antenna
  • eyes
• Cyclorrhapha parasitic specializations

  1. The series extending through Stomoxys to the family Hippoboscidae presents specialization of mouthparts from a type adapted to lapping up liquids toward a bayonet-like proboscis for piercing skin and sucking blood

  2. The other branch is characterized by specialization of the larval stage for a parasitic existence. Adults retain lapping mouthparts (vestigial in the Oestridae)
• Cyclorrhapha families

  • MUSCIDAE
  • HIPPOBOSCIDAE
  • CALLIPHORIDAE (Blowflies – eg. Lucilia)
  • OESTRIDAE
  • GASTEROPHILIDAE (bot flies)
• Common housefly (Musca domestica)

  • Is a synanthrope and occurs associated with man throughout the world
  • It enters houses and animal accommodations
  • Feeds on almost anything with a moist surface, especially milk, sugary food, meats, almost all food of man, rotting vegetables and carcasses, excrement and vomit, and garbage, in fact almost any organic material
  • Females are attracted to protein-containing material, which is necessary for the maturation of ovaries
• Housefly life cycle

  1. Lay its egg on animal manure or almost any kind of decaying organic matter

  2. A tiny, white, 1st larva (maggot) hatches from its egg in a day or less

  3. Larva grows, molt twice and become 3rd stage larva in a few days

  4. The adult emerges in 2-3 weeks

  5. Female may deposit about 2,000 eggs in an average lifetime of 6-8 weeks

  
• Housefly mouthparts

  • The arista is bilaterally plumose up to the tip
  • In the wings the M1+2 vein curves forward distally and the R5 (first posterior) cell is nearly closed
  • The mouthparts (proboscis) are complicated and specially adapted for sucking up fluid or semi-fluid foods or for mopping up liquid food
  • When not in use they are partially withdrawn into the head capsule, but are expanded vertically downward in a telescopic fashion when the fly feeds
  • The proboscis ends in a pair of oval-shaped fleshy labellae, having very fine channels called pseudotrachea through which fluids can be sucked up
• Housefly feeding methods

  1. For thin fluids such as beer and milk, the labella are closely appressed on to the food which is then sucked up through the small openings in the pseudotrachea

  2. When feeding on semi-solids like excreta, sputum and nasal discharges, the labellae are completely everted and food is sucked up directly into a food channel formed by the apposition of the slender labrum and blade-like hypopharynx

  3. If flies feed on more solid materials such as sugar lumps, dried blood, cheese and cooked meats, the labellae are everted and minute prestomal teeth surrounding the food channel are exposed and scrape away at the solid food

  4. The fly regurgitates at frequent intervals to aid its feeding (vomit-drop)

  5. The fly then moistens small particles with either saliva or the regurgitated contents of its crop, after which the food is sucked up and it defecates at random
• Houseflies are non-biting flies, and they are vectors of cestodes, nematodes (Enterobius, Ascaris), other helminths (Habronema spp, Raillietina spp) fecal bacteria, protozoa (Entamoeba) and viruses resulting in the spread of such enteric diseases as the dysenteries and typhoids
• Musca domestica is not a blood-feeder habitually, but it may follow other blood-sucking flies and feed on decomposing blood and tissue fluids
• House flies can be significant mechanical vectors of enteric pathogens. The adults feed on feces and manure and foul their environment with fly specks. These habits degrade the appearance of facilities and contribute to microbial contamination of eggs and milk at points of production
• Housefly life cycle

  1. Egg

  2. Larva

  3. Pupa

  4. Adult

  
• Housefly adhesion

  • Each of 3 pairs of legs end in a pair of claws and a pair of fleshy pad-like structures, the pulvilli which are supplied with glandular hairs. These sticky hairs enable the fly to adhere to very smooth surfaces like windows and at the same time pick up pathogens when they visit excreta, etc.
• Housefly control methods

  • Regular and frequent removal of manure from stables
  • Hodge's garbage can trap – garbage are collected in cans with tight-fitting lids with a hole to allow entrance of flies which are then caught
  • Use of insecticides as in mosquitoes and biting midges
• Face fly (Musca autumnalis)

  • Resembles M. domestica but is slightly larger
  • It is the face fly of cattle and other mammals
  • Eggs are deposited in fresh cattle droppings
  • Larvae pupate in the dried dung or nearby soil
  • Adult overwinters in buildings and spends its summers outdoors as a diurnal pest of livestock
• Face fly feeding

  Congregates on the faces of pastured livestock and feeds on the augmented lacrimal secretions exuded as a result of their presence
• Face flies are mechanical vectors of a bacterium, Moraxella bovis causing Pink eye disease, also known as infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis in Hereford. They are also a developmental host for several spirurid nematodes. Eyeworms.
• Eyeworms in the genus Thelazia live in the lachrymal ducts of horses, cattle, and other mammals. They crawl about the faces or gather around the eyes and nostrils of horses and cattle and feed on ocular and nasal discharges which are induced by their presence and cause annoyance and irritation
• Horses huddle together in the shade, are nervous and interrupt their normal grazing behavior; in cattle milk yield and growth is interrupted
• Eyeworms are transmitted by flies - but not biting flies - just those that come to lap up tears from the eyes of vertebrate animals. The larvae are swallowed by these flies where they will go through a couple of developmental stages and then move to the mouthparts of the fly, where they can be released the next time the insect feeds from the tears or secretions
• Face fly control methods

  • dichlorvos
  • crotoxyphos
  • coumaphos
  • ronnel
  • use of 'backrubbers'
  • insecticidal dust bags
• Backrubbers

  Consist of sacking wrapped round a wire cable or chainand suspended between 2 posts at a height allowing a cattle to rub their backs and 'self-apply' insecticide
• Insecticidal dust bags

  Permit self-application of insecticide by cattle
• Other Musca species

  • M. crassirostris
  • M. sorbens
  • M. lusoria
  • M. bezzi
  • M. vetustissima
  • M. vitripennis
  • M. pattoni
  • M. fasciata
• Fannia canicularis

  • Greyish to almost black in color with 3 longitudinal stripes on the dorsal aspect of the thorax
  • The larvae are often found in deep litter of chicken houses
  • Larvae are found in the discharges of the male or female genital organs and may lead to urogenital myiasis
• Fannia scalaris


  • The latrine fly
  • Breeds in human feces
  • Cause urogenital myiasis as in F. canicularis
• Fannia benjamini

  • Attracted by sweat and mucus
• Stomoxys

  Greek: stomoxys = with pointed mouth
• Stomoxys calcitrans (Stable fly)

  • Sometimes called as biting housefly/ dogfly
  • Smaller than the Musca but the thorax is like Musca
  • The abdomen is grey with black checks
  • Resembles Musca spp but has long pointed or sword-like proboscis with which it inflicts painful bites
  • The proboscis of Stomoxys is prominent, directed horizontally forwards and has a small labella
  • The palpi are much shorter than the proboscis
  • The wing venation M1+2 vein curves gently forward is only slightly bent and the R5 cell is open, ending at or behind the apex of the wings

  
• Musca

  Latrine fly
• Musca

  • Breeds in human feces
  • Causes urogenital myiasis as in F. canicularis
  • F. benjamini attracted by sweat and mucus
• Stomoxys calcitrans

  Stable fly
• Stomoxys calcitrans sometimes called as biting housefly/ dogfly
• Stomoxys calcitrans is smaller than Musca but the thorax is like Musca
• Stomoxys calcitrans

  • Abdomen is grey with black checks
  • Resembles Musca spp but has long pointed or sword-like proboscis with which it inflicts painful bites
  • Proboscis is prominent, directed horizontally forwards and has a small labella
• The palpi of Stomoxys calcitrans are much shorter than the proboscis
• Wing of Stomoxys calcitrans

  • M1+2 vein curves gently forward is only slightly bent and the R5 cell is open, ending at or behind the apex of the wings
• The adult stable fly is about the same size as the house fly but can be readily distinguished by the mouthparts (proboscis)
• Shows everted labella at tip of proboscis of two muscid flies, adults