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Scientific Name of Housefly
The scientific name for a housefly is Musca domestica.
The phrase “the exception that proves the rule” means that an exception to a rule confirms that the rule is correct.
About Housefly
Houseflies are insects that belong to the order Diptera. They are about 1/4-inch long and are gray or black in color. They have two wings and a long, slender body. Houseflies are attracted to food, garbage, and other sources of waste. They feed on decaying organic matter and can spread disease by transferring bacteria from one surface to another.
The housefly (Musca domestica) is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. Adults are gray to black, with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hairy bodies, and a single pair of membranous wings. They have red eyes, set farther apart in the slightly larger female.
The female housefly usually mates only once and stores the sperm for later use. She lays batches of about 100 eggs on decaying organic matter such as food waste, carrion, or feces. These soon hatch into legless white larvae, known as maggots. After two to five days of development, these metamorphose into reddish-brown pupae, about 8 millimetres (3⁄8 inch) long. Adult flies normally live for two to four weeks, but can hibernate during the winter. The adults feed on a variety of liquid or semi-liquid substances, as well as solid materials which have been softened by their saliva. They can carry pathogens on their bodies and in their feces, contaminate food, and contribute to the transfer of food-borne illnesses, while, in numbers, they can be physically annoying.
Housefly
Houseflies appear in literature from Ancient Greek myth and Aesop’s The Impertinent Insect onwards. Authors sometimes choose the housefly to speak of the brevity of life, as in William Blake’s 1794 poem “The Fly”, which deals with mortality subject to uncontrollable circumstances.[1]
Adult houseflies are usually 6 to 7 mm (1⁄4 to 9⁄32 in) long with a wingspan of 13 to 15 mm (1⁄2 to 19⁄32 in). Females tend to vary more in size and there is geographic variation with larger individuals in higher latitudes.[3] The head is strongly convex in front and flat and slightly conical behind. They have three simple eyes (ocelli) and a pair of short antennae.
Description
Houseflies have chemoreceptors, organs of taste, on the tarsi of their legs. They can identify foods such as sugars by walking over them.[10] Houseflies are often seen cleaning their legs by rubbing them together, enabling the chemoreceptors to taste afresh whatever they walk on next.[11] At the end of each leg is a pair of claws, and below them are two adhesive pads, pulvilli, enabling the housefly to walk up smooth walls and ceilings using Van der Waals forces.
The claws help the housefly to unstick the foot for the next step. On inverted surfaces, they alter the gait to keep four feet stuck to the surface.
Houseflies land on a ceiling by flying straight towards it; just before landing, they make a half roll and point all six legs at the surface, absorbing the shock with the front legs and sticking a moment later with the other four.
