Small House Flies can be annoying thanks to their attraction to both toilets and food, but their affinity for corpses makes they quite useful to Forensic Entomologists.
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, it lands on food, spreading germs by contact.
Though they are half the size and much thinner than a normal House Fly, the Small House Fly shares similar traits. The life cycle of F. scalaris is well-studied and its maggots are often seen on dead bodies. Forensic scientists use the knowledge of the fly's life stages to gauge the amount of time a corpse has been decomposing. Identifying which part of the life cycle the maggots and flies are in when a body is discovered allows for a helpful estimation of the time of death.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Diptera
Family:Muscidae
Genus:Fannia
Species:spp.
Identifying Information
Scientific Name: Fannia spp.
Other Name(s): Latrine Fly
Category:
Fly or Mosquito
Size (Adult; Length): 1mm to 5mm (0.04in to 0.20in)
Note: An insect's reach is not limited by lines drawn on a map and therefore species may appear in areas, regions and/or states beyond those listed above as they are driven by environmental factors (such as climate change), available food supplies and mating patterns. Grayed-out selections indicate that the subject in question has not been reported in that particular territory. U.S. states and Canadian provinces / territories are clickable to their respective bug listings.
Colors: black; red
