Musca domestica L.
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Musca domestica L or the common house fly is found all across the globe wherever humans are. This small insect can be found in almost all climates, from tropics to the arctic circle, buzzing around urban and rural dwellings. This fly originated in the steppes of Asia where its life cycle was tied to the presence of dead and decaying organic matter, usually animal feces. With the development of agriculture, the fly quickly adapted to living with humans.
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The fly starts life as an egg and within a day hatches into its larval form, known as a maggot. The maggot will feed for three to five days before pupating and becoming an adult fly. The female adult can be capable of reproducing in as little as two days, laying up to 150 eggs. This life cycle in incredibly fast with as many as twenty generations annually in subtropical and tropical regions where the warm period is extended.
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Their role in the environment as detritivores, breaking down animal carcasses and feces, is how they came to their association with death and decay. Through their consumption of waste, they release nutrients into the soil and for fungi, they are viewed as unclean.
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Musca domestica has adapted to eating what humans throw away as food, they still will carry disease from feces to food on humans plates. They can fly 1-2 miles in a day, acting as a vector for disease. Even if the knowledge of how disease spreads is a recent discovery, the telltale buzzing of the fly signals discomfort, waste, and death in the area.
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