House fly (Musca domestica)

  • Macroscopic Solutions
  • Digital Images
  • Online

Available online

view House fly (Musca domestica)

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

You can use this work for any purpose, as long as it is not primarily intended for or directed to commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You should also provide attribution to the original work, source and licence. Read more about this licence.

Credit

House fly (Musca domestica). Macroscopic Solutions. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Selected images from this work

View 1 image

About this work

Description

Photomacrograph of the head of a common house fly (Musca domestica). The fly's mouthparts and two large compound eyes (for accurate perception of movement) can be seen. They are commonly found all over the world usually in areas of human activity. Even though these flies do not bite, they are considered pests and can pick up diseases from garbage, sewage and other sources of filth and carry them in their mouthparts and alimentary canal. These can then be transmitted onto human and animal food when the fly comes into contact with it. Disease-causing pathogens that can be commonly transmitted by house flies include Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Escherichia, Enterococcus and Chlamydia. Width of image is 1.5 cm.

Contributors

Subjects

Permanent link