Small House Fly - (Fannia spp.)

Small House Flies are annoying because they are attracted to food and toilets, but their affinity for corpses makes they quite useful to Forensic Entomologists.

Staff Writer (8/28/2014): Male Small House Flies form swarms in the summer. Females lay their eggs in animal/human feces or on dead and decaying animal tissue. For this reason, one species (F. scalaris) is also known as the Latrine Fly and is considered a potential harbinger of disease because after landing on feces, they land on food as well.

Though they are half the size and much thinner than a normal House Fly (Musca domestica), the Small House Fly shares similar traits. The life cycle of F. scalaris is well-known and the maggots (larvae) develop on feces or decaying tissue. Forensic scientists use this knowledge to gauge the amount of time a corpse has been decomposing. Identifying which part of the life cycle the maggots/flies are in when they are found on a body helps calculate when the person died.

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Details of the:
Small House Fly

Category: Fly or Mosquito
Common name: Small House Fly
Scientific Name: Fannia spp.
Other Names: Latrine Fly

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Diptera

Family: Muscidae

Genus: Fannia

Species: spp.

Size (Adult, Length): 1mm to 5mm (0.04in to 0.20in)

Identifying Colors: black; red

Additional Descriptors: tiny; hairy; flying

North American Reach (Though Not Limited To*): Alabama; Alaska; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Hawaii; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Vermont; Virginia; Washington; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming; Alberta; British Columbia; Manitoba; New Brunswick; Newfoundland and Labrador; Nova Scotia; Ontario; Prince Edward Island; Quebec; Saskatchewan; Mexico

* Keep in mind that an insect's reach is not limited by lines on a map and therefore may appear in areas/regions/states beyond those listed above.

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