Latest Resistance management for sustainable agriculture and improved public health

Housefly

Musca domestica

The housefly, Musca domestica, is a serious threat to human and animal health. Houseflies are vectors of more than 100 human and animal intestinal diseases. They are capable of transmitting parasites that cause diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, bacillary dysentery, infantile diarrhea, tuberculosis, plague, leprosy, yaws, samonellosis, trachoma, and anthrax. Animal health concerns include the transmission of pinkeye. Houseflies can carry streptococcus and staphylococcus which are responsible for mastitis in dairy cattle. They are also responsible for decreased feed conversion, lower milk yields, and they delay the entry of replacement animals into production. The adult flies are not parasitic, but when they lay their eggs in open wounds and these hatch into their larval stage (also known as maggots), the larvae feed on live and/or necrotic tissue, causing accidental myiasis to develop. The livestock industry also has to be aware of the nuisance problems that houseflies cause to neighboring residential areas.

Housefly populations can reach intolerable levels particularly fast. A mature female can produce several clutches of between 100 and 150 eggs. These eggs hatch within a day. The three larval instars last 4-5 days and the fly will remain a pupa for another 4-5 days before it emerges as an adult. The average life cycle from egg to adult under ideal conditions of 27-30ºC lasts 9-12 days. Adults are usually 6-7mm in length with red eyes and a gray thorax containing four dark lines and a pair of membranous wings.

Key housefly resources

References

Title Year Author(s) Publisher
Methoxyfenozide resistance of the housefly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae): cross-resistance patterns, stability and associated fitness costs Vol. 73 (1), pp. 254-261. DOI: 10.1002/ps.4296 2017 Shah RM, Shad SA, Abbas N Pest Management Science
Insecticide Resistance and Management Strategies in Urban Ecosystems Vol. 7(1):2. DOI:10.3390/insects7010002. 2016 Zhu F, Lavine L, O’Neal S, Lavine M, Foss C, Walsh D Insects
Risk assessment, cross-resistance potential, and biochemical mechanism of resistance to emamectin benzoate in field strain of house fly (Musca domestica Linnaeus) Vol. 151, pp. 133-137. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.02.077 2016 Khan HAA, Akram W, Khan T, Haider MS, Iqbal N, Zubair M Chemosphere
Toxicity and resistance of field collected Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae) against insect growth regulator insecticides Vol. 115 (4), pp. 1385-1390. DOI: 10.1007/s00436-015-4872-6 2016 Khan HAA, Akram W, Arshad M, Hafeez F Parasitology Research
The global status of insect resistance to neonicotinoid insecticides Vol. 121, pp. 78-87. DOI: 10.1016/j.pestbp.2015.04.004 2015 Bass C, Denholm I, Williamson MS, Nauen R Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology
Frequencies of the pyrethroid resistance alleles of Vssc1 and CYP6D1 in house flies from the eastern United States Vol.15 (2), pp. 157-167. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2006.00620.x 2006 Rinkevich FD, Zhang L, Hamm RL, Brady SG, Lazzaro BP, Scott JG Insect Molecular Biology
Laboratory And Field Evaluation Of Household Insecticide Products And Public Health Insecticides Against Vector Mosquitoes And House Flies (Diptera: Culicidae, Muscidae) Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Urban Pests 2005 Zairi J, Lee RW
Identification of mutations in the houseflypara-type sodium channel gene associated with knockdown resistance (kdr) to pyrethroid insecticides Vol. 252 (1-2), pp. 51-60 1996 Williamson MS, Martinez-Torres D, Hick CA, Devonshire AL Molecular and General Genetics (MGG)

The information provided is based on literature reviews and as such IRAC cannot guarantee or be held accountable for the accuracy of the reports.

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