INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT
WORK
OF
BIOLOGY
2009-2010

SUBMITTED TO : SUBMITTED TO :-

BIOLOGY DEPT. NAME: YASHA

K.V. NO. 3 NAL CLASS- XI- SCI

ROLL NO. _______

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that

Miss________________ of class

XII Sci. has completed her project

of Biology under my guidance.

MR. GURPREET SINGH

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am highly indebted to our school Principal Mr. B.L. MAHICH sir for providing all the necessary

requirements in Biology laboratory.

I also convey my sincere thank to MR.GURPREET SINGH sir for his valuable guidance and help to

complete my project.

I am extremely grateful and thankful to my parents for their affection and moral support and

also to my friends whose co-operation helped me to complete my project.

 AIM
TO STUDY ABOUT HOUSEFLY &

ITS EFFECTS.
 HOUSEFLY
The housefly (also house fly, house-fly or common housefly), Musca

domestica, is a Diptera of the Brachycera suborder. It is the most

common of all domestic flies, accounting for about 90% of all flies in

human habitations, and indeed one of the most widely distributed

insects, found all over the world; it is considered a pest that can carry

serious diseases.

The adults are 8–12 mm long. Their thorax is gray, with four

longitudinal dark lines on the back. The underside of their abdomen is

yellow[citation needed], and their whole body is covered with hair-like

projections. The females are slightly larger than the males, and have a

much larger space between their red compound eyes. The mass of pupae

can range from about 8 to 20 mg under different conditions.[1]

Like other Diptera (meaning "two-winged"), houseflies have only one

pair of wings; the hind pair is reduced to small halteres that aid in flight

stability. caterpillars (M1+2 or fourth long vein of the wing) shows a

sharp upward bend.

Species that appear similar to the housefly include:

 The lesser house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller,

more slender, and the media vein is straight.

 The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, has piercing mouthparts and

the media vein is only slightly curved.

Life cycle
Each female fly can lay approximately 500 eggs in several batches of

about 75 to 150 [2]. The eggs are white and are about 1.2 mm in length.

Within a day, larvae (maggots) hatch from the eggs; they live and feed

in (usually dead and decaying) organic material, such as garbage or

feces. They are pale-whitish, 3–9 mm long, thinner at the mouth end,

and have no legs. They live at least one week. At the end of their third

instar, the maggots crawl to a dry cool place and transform into pupae,

colored reddish or brown and about 8 mm long. The adult flies then

emerge from the pupae. (This whole cycle is known as complete

metamorphosis.) The adults live from two weeks to a month in the wild,

or longer in benign laboratory conditions. After having emerged from

the pupae, the flies cease to grow; small flies are not young flies, but are

indeed the result of getting insufficient food during the larval stage.

Some 36 hours after having emerged from the pupa, the female is

receptive for mating. The male mounts her from behind to inject sperm.

Copulation takes between a few seconds to a couple of minutes.[3]

Normally the female mates only once, storing the sperm to use it

repeatedly for laying several sets of eggs. Males are territorial: they will

defend a certain territory against other males and will attempt to mount

any females that enter that territory

The flies depend on warm temperatures; generally, the warmer the

temperature the faster the flies will develop. In winter, most of them

survive in the larval or the pupa stage in some protected warm location.
Diet

Houseflies feed on feces, open sores, sputum, and moist decaying

organic matter such as spoiled food, eggs and flesh. [4] Houseflies can

take in only liquid foods. They spit out saliva on solid foods to predigest

it, and then suck it back in. They also regurgitate partly digested matter

and pass it again to the abdomen.

Sex determination
The housefly is an object of biological research, mainly because of one

remarkable quality: the sex determination mechanism. Although a wide

variety of sex determination mechanisms exist in nature (e.g. male and

female heterogamy, haplodiploidy, environmental factors) the way sex is

determined is usually fixed within one species. However, the housefly

exhibits many different mechanisms for sex determination, such as male

heterogamy (like most insects and mammals), female heterogamy (like

birds) and maternal control over offspring sex. This makes the housefly

one of the most suitable species to study the evolution of sex

determination
Evolution
Even though the order of flies (Diptera) is much older, true houseflies

are believed to have evolved in the beginning of the Cenozoic era, some

65 million years ago.[6] House flies feed on liquid or semi-liquid

substances beside solid material which has been softened by saliva or

vomit. Because of their high intake of food, they deposit feces

constantly, one of the factors that makes the insect a dangerous carrier of

pathogens. Although they are domestic flies, usually confined to the

human habitations, they can fly for several miles from the breeding

place. They are active only in daytime and rest at night e.g. at the

corners of rooms, ceiling hangings, etc

Housefly as a vector of disease
Mechanical transmission of organisms on its hairs, mouthparts, vomitus

and feces:

 parasitic diseases: cysts of protozoa e.g. Entamoeba histolytica,

Giardia lamblia and eggs of helminths e.g.: Ascaris lumbricoides,

Trichuros trichura, Haemenolypes nana, Enterobius vermicularis.

 bacterial diseases: typhoid, cholera, dysentery, pyogenic

cocci...etc. House flies have been demonstrated to be vectors of

Campylobacter and E. coli O157:H7 using PCR [7]. House flies

can be monitored for bacterial pathogens using filter paper spot

cards and PCR [8]

 Viruses: enteroviruses: poliomyelitis, infective hepatitis (A &

E)...etc.
Damage and Medical Importance
Flies commonly develop in large numbers in poultry manure under

caged hens, and this is a serious problem requiring control. Although

this fly species does not bite, the control of Musca domestica is vital to

human health and comfort in many areas of the world. The most

important damage related with this insect is the annoyance and the

indirect damage produced by the potential transmission of pathogens

(viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes) associated with this

fly. Pathogenic organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage

and other sources of filth, and then transferred on their mouthparts,

through their vomitus, feces and contaminated external body parts to

human and animal food.

Of particular concern is the movement of flies from animal or human

feces to food that will be eaten uncooked by humans. Also, when

consumed by flies, some pathogens can be harbored in the mouthparts or

alimentary canal for several days, and then be transmitted when flies

defecate or regurgitate. In situations where plumbing is lacking, such as

open latrines, serious health problems can develop, especially if there

are outdoor food markets, hospitals, or slaughter houses nearby. Among

the pathogens commonly transmitted by house flies are Salmonella,

Shigella, Campylobacter, Escherichia, Enterococcus, Chlamydia, and

many other species that cause illness. These flies are most commonly

linked to outbreaks of diarrhea and shigellosis, but also are implicated in

transmission of food poisoning, typhoid fever, dysentery, tuberculosis,

anthrax, ophthalmia, and parasitic worms.

 Bibliography
THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED UNDER

SUPERVISION OF OUR BIOLOGY TEACHER WITH THE

HELP OF FOLLOWING BOOKS:

1. ABC LABORATORY ,MANUAL BIOLOGY OF CLASS

XITH

2. PRADEEP’S – A TERXT BOOK OF BIOLOGY.