This is to certify that Master P.

Sam Daniel of
class XII of Good Shepherd Model School has
successfully carried out the project entitled
“Study of Developmental Stages of
Housefly/Cockroach”
under the supervision of Biology teacher for the
academic year 2019-2020.
All the works related to this project is done by the
candidate himself. The approach towards the subject
has been sincere and scientific.
Date:

_______________ ________________
Signature of Biology Signature of External
Teacher Examiner

_______________ _______________
Signature of Principal School Stamp

I humbly consider a privilege and honor to express

my heartiest and profound gratitude to our Principal
mam for her valuable suggestion and assistance.
2
S.No. Title Page No

1 Introduction 4

2 Cool Facts 6

3 Classification 7

4 Experiment 7
Developmental stages of
5 8
Housefly
Developmental stages of
6 15
Cockroach
7 Relationship with Humans 19

8 Importance in Ecosystem 20

9 Conclusion 21

10 Bibliography 22

3
 Insects constitute the largest class of animals
representing over 7,50,000 species. They are the most
successful land invertebrates, and the only major
competitors with humans for dominance in the world.
Today, the life of every human being is affected by
insects in one way or the other. Quit several insect
varieties are closely connected with some of our
diseases like malaria, cholera, plague, etc. and with our
day to day life. Housefly (Musca nebula) and Cockroach
(Periplanta americana) are two such insects which
effect the human life the most.
Houseflies have been pursuing mankind
throughout all recorded history, and probably from the
time man emerged from his caves and began to walk
erect Houseflies are cosmopolitan in distribution and
are intimately associated with human life. Hence, they
are found in all places of human dwelling. They remain
active in all seasons except winters. They neither bite
nor sting us, yet we hate them for their insanitary
habit.
Houseflies spread several communicable
diseases like a cholera, typhoid, dysentery, etc. Indeed,
Flies are probably responsible for more deaths
among humans then any perceived atrocities we may4
have misguidedly thrust upon them.
 Cockroaches are also cosmopolitan in
distribution and are found in such places of human
dwellings, where darkness, warmth, dampness, and
plenty of organic debris are available. Thus, one can
easily find these hidden in our kitchens, sewers, go
downs, railway compartments, ship, etc.
Cockroaches are nocturnal and omnivorous.
They come out of their hiding places during the night
in search of food. Cockroaches harm us by chewing our
clothes, books, and leather wares when normal food in
scanty.

House Fly Cockroach

Musca domestica Periplanta americana

5
 House flies live on a liquid diet.
 They can taste with their feet.
 They can see behind them.
 Life cycle of a house fly only lasts for
around 30 days.
 They can process around 250 in a single
second.

 A cockroach can live for a week without

its head!
 Cockroaches can hold their breath for up
to 40 minutes.
 Cockroaches can survive a nuclear
explosion.
 They have even been around longer than
dinosaurs, as early as 359 million years
ago.
6

Classification Cockroach Housefly

 Kingdom Animalia Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda Arthropoda
Class Insecta Insecta
Subclass Pterygota Pterygota
Superorder Dictyptera Panorpida
Order Blattaria Diptera
Genus Periplanta Musca
Species americana domestica

Keeping in view the huge impact that these

insects have on lives of humans, the study of the
developmental stages of the insects Housefly and
Cockroach have been selected for this project.

7
 Preserved specimens of different developmental
stages of housefly/cockroach, notebook, pen, etc.

Get the preserved specimen of different

developmental stages of housefly/cockroach and
observe the stages carefully. Note down your
observations in the notebook.

The house fly has a complete metamorphosis

with distinct egg, larval or maggot, pupal and adult
stages. The house fly overwinters in either the larval
or pupal stage under manure piles or in other
protected locations. Warm summer conditions are
generally optimum for the development of the house
fly, and it can complete its life cycle in as little as seven
to ten days. However, under suboptimal conditions the
life cycle may require up to two months. As many as 10
to 12 generations may occur annually in temperate
regions, while more than 20 generations may occur in
subtropical and tropical regions. 8
 Life Cycle of Housefly

Housefly has grey body of about 6-7 mm long.

The body is divided into head, thorax and abdomen:
 i. Head: Head is ovoid with two large, lateral
compound eyes. Ommatidia is the unit of compound
eye. In the center of head three ocelli or simple eyes
are present. In front of the head are two small,
sensitive antennae.
ii. Mouth parts: The proboscis(mouth) is made up of
three parts
(1) Rostrum
(2) Raustellum
(3) Oral disc (sucker)

For feeding, the raustellum forms food channel. This

pierces into the food and sucks it into the alimentary
canal.
iii. Thorax: It is divided into three parts:
(1) Prothorax
(2) Mesothorax
(3) Metathorax
Three pairs of legs arise from the segments of thorax.
Each has five joints – (a) Coxa, (b) Trochanter, (c) Femur.
(d) Tibia and (e) Tarsus.
10
The mesothorax contains a pair of wings. They are
transparent and have supporting veins. Metathorax
contains halters, the vestigial wings.
iv. Abdomen: Female has five visible segments in the
abdomen with five pairs of spiracles present on the lateral
side. The male has sixth and seventh vestigial segment
also with two pairs of spiracles on them. Fine hairs are
present all over the abdomen. In females 6-9 segments
form the ovipositor involved in reproduction.

11

The white egg, about 1.2 mm in length, is laid

singly but eggs are piled in small groups. Each female
fly can lay up to 500 eggs in several batches of 75 to 150
eggs over a three to four-day period. The number of
eggs produced is a function of female size which, itself,
is principally a result of larval nutrition. Maximum egg
production occurs at intermediate temperatures, 25 to
30°C. Often, several flies will deposit their eggs in
proximity, leading to large masses of larvae and pupae.
Eggs must remain moist or they will not hatch.

Early instar larvae are 3 to 9 mm long, typical

creamy whitish in colour, cylindrical but tapering
toward the head. The head contains one pair of dark
hooks. The posterior spiracles are slightly raised and
the spiracular openings are sinuous slits which are
surrounded by an oval black border. The legless
maggot emerges from the egg in warm weather within
eight to 20 hours. Maggots immediately begin feeding
on and developing in the material in which the egg was
laid.
The larva goes through three instars and a full-
grown maggot, 7 to 12 mm long, has a greasy, cream
-coloured appearance. High-moisture manure favours 12
the survival of the house fly larva. The optimal
temperature for larval development is 35 to 38°C,
though larval survival is greatest at 17 to 32°C. Larvae
complete their development in four to 13 days at
optimal temperatures, but require 14 to 30 days at
temperatures of 12 to 17°C.
Nutrient-rich substrates such as animal manure
provide an excellent developmental substrate. Very
little manure is needed for larval development, and
sand or soil containing small amounts of degraded
manure allows for successful belowground
development. When the maggot is full-grown, it can
crawl up to 50 feet to a dry, cool place near breeding
material and transform to the pupal stage.

The pupal stage, about 8 mm long, is passed in a

pupal case formed from the last larval skin which
varies in colour from yellow, red, brown, to black as
the pupa ages. The shape of the pupa is quite different
from the larva, being bluntly rounded at both ends.
Pupae complete their development in two to six days at
32 to 37°C, but require 17 to 27 days at about 14°C).
The emerging fly escapes from the pupal case using
an alternately swelling and shrinking sac, called
13
the ptilinum, on the front of its head which it uses like
a pneumatic hammer to break through the case.
 The house fly is 6 to 7 mm long, with the female
usually larger than the male. The female can be
distinguished from the male by the relatively wide
space between the eyes (in males, the eyes almost
touch). The head of the adult fly has reddish-eyes and
sponging mouthparts. The thorax bears four narrow
black stripes and there is a sharp upward bend in the
fourth longitudinal wing vein. The abdomen is grey or
yellowish with dark midline and irregular dark
markings on the sides. The underside of the male is
yellowish.
Adults usually live 15 to 25 days but may live up to
two months. Without food, they survive only about two
to three days. They live longer at cooler temperatures.
They require food before they copulate. Oviposition
commences four to 20 days after copulation. Female
flies need access to suitable food (protein) to allow
them to produce eggs, and manure alone is not
adequate. The potential reproductive capacity of flies
is tremendous.

14

The American cockroach has three life stages: the egg,

a variable number of nymph instars, and the adult. The
life cycle from egg to adult averages about 600 days
and the adult life span may be another 400 days. The
nymphs emerge from the egg case after about six to
eight weeks and mature in about six to twelve months.
Adults can live up to one year and an adult female will
produce an average of 150 young in her lifetime.
Environmental factors such as temperature and
humidity affect the developmental time of the
American cockroach. Outdoors, the female shows a
preference for moist, concealed oviposition sites .

Cockroach is a brown, elongated, dorsoventrally

flat creature of about 40 mm long and 10-12 mm
broad. The body is covered by sclerites (plates) made
up of chitin. The body is divided into head, thorax and
abdomen.
i. Head: The head is triangular, hanging downwards.
A pair of long sensitive antenna is seen in front of
two lateral compound eyes. The mouth parts include
labrum, mandibles, maxillae, and hypopharynx.
These help the cockroach in eating varied type of
things. 15
ii. Thorax: It is divided into parathorax, mesothorax
and metathorax, each bearing a pair of legs. Like
housefly here also the legs are made up of five
 joints, pulvinus and claws. Meso and metathorax
bear a pair of wings each.
iii. Abdomen: It contains ten segments gradually
narrowing down. The sclerites on dorsal side are
called tergum and on ventral side sternum.
Sternum are only nine. In females 7th and 9th
sternum make brood pouh. They also bear a pair
of appendages called anal cerci. Males process anal
cerci and anal style in pairs.

16
Females of the American cockroach lay their eggs in a
hardened, purse-shaped egg case called an ootheca.
About one week after mating the female produces an
ootheca and at the peak of her reproductive period, she
may form two ootheca per week. The females on
average produce one egg case a month for ten months,
laying 16 eggs per egg case. The female deposits the
ootheca near a source of food, sometimes gluing it to a
surface with a secretion from her mouth. The
deposited ootheca contains water enough for the eggs
to develop without receiving additional water from the
substrate. The egg case is brown when deposited and
turns black in a day or two. It is about 8 mm long and
5 mm high.

The nymph stage begins when the egg hatches and

ends with the emergence of the adult. The number of
times an American cockroach molts varies from six to
14. The first instar American cockroach is white
immediately after hatching then becomes a grayish
brown. After molting, subsequent instars of the
cockroach nymphs are white and then turn reddish-
brown, with the posterior margins of the thoracic and
abdominal segments being a darker color. Wings
17
are not present in the nymph stages and wing pads
become noticeable in the third or fourth instar.
Complete development from egg to adult is about 600
days. The nymphs as well as the adults actively forage
for food and water.
Life Cycle of Cockroach

18
 Flies are a nuisance, disturbing people at leisure and
at work, but they are disliked principally because of their
habits of contaminating foodstuffs. They alternate
between breeding and feeding in dirty places with feeding
on human foods, during which process they soften the
food with saliva and deposit their faeces, creating a health
hazard. However, fly larvae are as nutritious as fish meal,
and could be used to convert waste to feed for
fish and livestock. The pesky house fly may be annoying,
but this buzzing insect's genome could improve human
health, according to a new study. Although we often think
of houseflies as just a nuisance, they can transmit many
pathogenic bacteria to people and contribute significantly
to disease in poor communities where sanitation is
limited.
Flies have been used in art and artefacts in many
cultures. In 16th and 17th century
European vanitas paintings, flies sometimes occur
as memento mori. They may also be used for other effects
as in the Flemish painting, the Master of
Frankfurt (1496). Fly amulets were popular in ancient
Egypt.

19
 Cockroach egg is the only food source of Parasitic
wasps, and they entirely rely upon cockroaches for their
survival. If by any mishap, cockroaches will go extinct,
then Parasitic wasps won’t survive, and they too certainly
become extinct. There are around 4,500 cockroach species
in this world and besides wasps; cockroaches are a
significant food source of several other living creatures,
even humans are known to eat roaches in some cultures.
Besides being a food source for other living creatures,
roaches have a more significant role to serve in the
ecosystem. Forest roaches are expert in consuming leaf
litter and other plant materials. The microbes in their
bellies help them break down the degrading plant
material which is indigestible for other creatures.
cockroaches are a major source of nitrogen which is vital
for the growth of trees and essential for the habitat.
Roaches feed upon decaying organic matter, leaf litter
and wood around it. This material traps a lot of
atmospheric nitrogen in them, and when cockroaches
feed upon them, they release the trapped nitrogen into
the soil (through their feces). Plants and trees then take
in that nitrogen and it helps them grow.

20
The Housefly is an object of biological research, partly
for its variable sex determination mechanism. Although a
wide variety of sex determination mechanisms exists in
nature (e.g. Male and Female heterogamy, haplodiploidy,
environmental factors), the way sex is determined is
usually fixed within a species. The housefly is, however,
thought to exhibit multiple mechanisms for sex
determination, such as male heterogamy (like most
insects and mammals), female heterogamy (like birds),
and maternal control over offspring sex. The exact
mechanism of sex determination involved is unresolved.
The cockroach is one of the most primitive insects on
Earth. According to the Cockroach Control Manual, their
ancestors lived 200-350 million years ago in the
Carboniferous Period, even before the dinosaurs. The
Carboniferous Period was also called the Age of the
cockroaches because they were so abundant. Some
theorists estimate that roaches branched off from
termites about 50 to 70 million years ago. Both creatures
are social insects who work in unison for food gathering,
reproduction, and defense. According to the Cockroaches
make great pets home page, there are over four thousand
species of cockroach. While humans only consider about
25-30 different types, which is less than one percent of
the total population here on earth, to be pests.
The largest roach is the Megoblatta which has an 18-inch 21
wingspan. The heaviest, is the rhinoceros roach of
Australia which weighs in at 50 grams. The smallest
roach is Attaphilla fungicola which is only four
millimeters long and lives in the nests of Leaf Cutter Ants.
Their habitat ranges from forest floors, to caves, to water.
They are highly optimized for their environment, and
according to the May 1996 Discover magazine, they can
run at a top speed of five feet per second.

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