In the warm season, swarms of flies can be found near cesspools, cattle burial grounds and large garbage heaps. Among them stands out the green fly, which is also called "lucilia" or "green carrion". It bears its name for a reason, as it feeds on carrion, and also lays eggs in the corpses of animals.
Carrion Fly
Outwardly, the green fly is quite beautiful: its green color with a golden or copper tint casts a metallic sheen, its eyes are red, and its muzzle is a silver-metallic color. The body of the insect is slightly longer than that of a common housefly, and reaches 15 mm in length.
The illustration below shows an ordinary green fly, the photo of which conveys all the overflows on the back and muzzle.
It lives almost everywhere - in Europe, Siberia, Asia and America.
Reproduction
Green fly lays about 150 eggs at a time, but in a day their number can reach five hundred pieces. To protect the offspring from bright sunlight, to which it is very sensitive, the female looks for deep folds or holes in the flesh of carrion, and if possible, climbs under the corpse,to lay eggs.
The insect does not care at all about other scavengers, such as ants that carry freshly laid fly eggs. Her offspring are so numerous that such petty theft will not affect the general population.
Maggots
Green fly larvae hatch from eggs a day after laying. They are small in size, whitish with a small black head, which has a mouth opening and two sharp hook-shaped protrusions that the larva controls: pulls forward, sticks into rotting flesh, hides. In some sources, there is an assumption that these are modified jaws of the larva, with the help of which it captures microscopic pieces of flesh. Actually it is not. The larva uses its hooks exclusively as a propulsion system. By thrusting them into the flesh, she tightens the body, so she can move around.
How the larvae eat
The larva cannot yet bite off pieces of solid food. How does she eat? During the research, an experiment was set up: pieces of slightly dried meat were placed in two flasks, green fly larvae were planted on one of them. A few days later, the piece of meat on which the larvae lived became so softened that it looked more like a liquid slurry. At the same time, the piece of meat in the second flask did not change at all. That is, the larvae, secreting a special secret from their mouths, liquefy solid food, turning it into a kind of broth, and then feed on this broth.
It turns out that they digest food beforethan to eat it. In addition, hook-shaped outgrowths on the head of the larva are also involved in the process of such digestion. As the larva digs its hooks into the flesh, it releases digestive juice. It soaks into the meat where the hooks were attached.
After reaching a certain age, the larva burrows into the ground, where it pupates. After a while, the lid of the cocoon bursts, and a young green fly appears from under the ground. After drying her wings in the sun for a while, she rushes off in search of rotting flesh.
Green flies are beneficial
The benefits of the carrion fly cannot be overestimated:
- adult eats carrion;
- fly larvae speed up the process of putrefaction and decomposition of dead flesh.
Thus, the green fly acts as an environmental sanitizer, destroying rotting remains and speeding up the decomposition process.
It is also known that with the help of the larvae of this insect, surgeons during the Second World War carried out the cleaning of wounds from rotting flesh.
Green fly damage
However, the harm caused by the green fly is also obvious. Constantly living among rotting remains, in cesspools, it becomes a carrier of pathogenic bacteria. Flies are carriers of diseases such as:
- dysentery;
- typhoid;
- polio;
- brucellosis;
- intestinal myiasis;
- helminthiasis and more.
For these insects, there is no specialno matter how fresh the meat in which she lays her eggs. For this, both a semi-decomposed animal corpse and a fresh piece of meat on your dining table will do. During heat treatment, the eggs will certainly die, but, you see, this is little consolation. In addition, many housewives try raw minced meat for s alt, risking introducing all kinds of bacteria and green fly eggs into their bodies, some species of which can take root in the intestines, causing intestinal myiasis.
Those who are engaged in breeding livestock are aware of cases when, it would seem, a small wound received by an animal through negligence turned into a big problem. It did not heal for a long time, the animal began to get sick and sometimes even died. The green fly is to blame for this, laying eggs there. The larvae that hatched from the eggs turned the wound into a digestible compote, thereby worsening the condition of the animal.
There is a known case when a green fly laid eggs in the eyes and nose of a patient in a Canadian clinic. One hundred and twenty larvae hatched from them. At the time of discovery, each larva had already reached a size of approximately 5 millimeters. This suggests that after the eggs of the green fly were laid, about one and a half to two days passed. Upon admission to the clinic, no larvae were observed in the woman's body, which means infection directly in the institution. However, the doctors relieved themselves of all responsibility for the incident, citing the fact that there were no windows in the woman’s ward, and there was no way for a fly to enter the clinic.could.
Where the carrion fly lives
Green flies in an apartment, as a rule, do not take root. Even if one such flies into the house out of curiosity, the living conditions will not suit her. The green fly needs dead, rotting flesh in order to lay its eggs. Therefore, carrion live near cattle burial grounds, but are found in the garden on flowering plants, as well as near pens for keeping livestock.
If suddenly you notice that green flies have appeared in the house, this may mean that, perhaps, somewhere in the basement or in the immediate vicinity there is a dead animal - a cat, a rat, a dog, etc.
How to kill green flies
Don't wait for green flies to take over all the space around. They must be disposed of as soon as you notice at least one adult. But before you get rid of green flies, you need to eliminate the cause of their appearance, that is, find rotting flesh that could attract these insects and throw them as far away from your home as possible.
As a rule, these measures are enough to get rid of unpleasant insects in the house. But it is worth remembering that flies live near livestock pens, and this is fraught with the fact that insects can annoy animals, lay eggs in their ears, nose, accidental wounds, etc. In this case, regular treatment of livestock premises is necessary.
For a competent fight against the green fly, it is better to contact the specialists from the sanitary and epidemiological station, who will quickly and competently carry out the elimination of insects.
Pest control methods:
- fumigation - elimination through poisonous aerosols, gels, smoke bombs, etc.;
- disinfestation - chemical treatment of the main places of accumulation of insects.
Prevention
Of course, it is always easier to prevent a problem than to fix it. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain basic sanitary and hygienic conditions:
- dispose of household waste in the house in time;
- do not leave uncovered food on the table;
- place mosquito nets on windows;
- clean pet pens regularly;
- examine animals for wounds to avoid infection with green fly larvae;
- treat manure heaps with biothermal means;
- promptly dispose of the corpses of dead animals, as well as pests such as rats, moles and others;
- to decontaminate latrines with insecticides.
Essential oil of tansy repels flies, causing paralysis in their limbs. Bouquets of these flowers, hung in a livestock shed or standing in a vase in an apartment, will help to get rid of annoying flies for a long time.
