• Pests in House and Home
  • Bedbugs – Bites, Stings and Itches
  • Food Pests

Pestium.uk

Europe's largest scientific bug site

Danish flagUnion JackNorwedish flagSwedish flagGerman flag
You are here: Home / Food Pests / The various species / Flies / Blowflies

Blowflies

Blowfly
Blowfly
Blowfly season
Blowfly season

The many species of blowflies normally live in the wild. Inside you can meet the heavy, blue-black blowfly, for example the species Calliphora erythrocephala and the slightly smaller, green-metallic shiny gold flies of the genus Lucilia.

Blowflies lay their eggs, the so-called flyblow, in dead animals and other decaying organic materials (excrement, cheese, etc.). The eggs hatch less than a day after they are laid and the larvae bore their way directly into the food. They grow quickly and are only between 4 days and a few weeks to become large enough to pupate. The larvae will then leave the carrion, dig into the soil and pupate there. The pupal stage lasts 1 – 2 weeks. When it is over the adult blowflies hatch and force themselves to the surface and fly away. Adult blowflies can live for a month. You can see them suck on juicy meat and many other kinds of food. Blowflies do not have to come into direct contact with whatever, they will lay eggs on. Females can lay their eggs though a fly screen and tiny holes in plastic and let the eggs fall on the meat. Flyblow hatch and the larvae can develop as long as the temperature is higher than 6-7 ° C.

Two blowfly species
Two blowfly species

Blowflies are generally heavily contaminated with micro-organisms. On average, there are three times as many bacteria on blowflies as on house flies. It is among others the bacteria of the genus Clostridium and Salmonella. Blowflies can smell meat and carcasses at a distance of several kilometres. In industries working with things that tempt blowflies, effective measures must be taken to block them out (see page 164). Blowflies can come from birds’ nests with dead chicks or from dead mice or rats under floorboards or in attics. A single dead rat may provide feed for 4000 maggots. The maggots will, under natural conditions, dig into the soil. When this is not possible they will wander far and wide to find a suitable site for pupation. They have a tendency to seek down and away from light. In containers with meat waste that has been there for too long, you will often see mass occurrences of migrant blowfly larvae. They can in large volumes search across courtyards and find their way in through doors and down basement stairs. This mass invasion is stopped most effectively by dusting with an insecticide powder against creeping and crawling insects. The blowfly larvae are however quite persistent and can survive for several hours before they stop crawling. After the dusting it will in most cases be rational to vacuum, sweep or wash away the dead larvae. In the summer, containers with meat waste must be emptied and cleaned at least three times a week if you want to be sure not to be bothered by maggots.

For use in food companies, including fish and game stores, there are light traps, which are quite effective against blowflies.

Food Pests
Introduction
An old problem
Competition for food
Pests can ruin stored goods
Why not just eat the insects
Some insects are unhealthy to eat
Allergy to pests
Transmission of infectious diseases
Where do pests come from?
Synanthrope species
(1) The house dust mite and the sugar mite
(2) The firebrat and the silverfish
(3) The German cockroach and the forest cockroach
(4) The rust-red flour beetle and the confused flour beetle
(5) The merchant grain beetle and the saw-toothed grain beetle
(6) The cigarette beetle and the drugstore beetle
(7) The rice weevil and the granary weevil
(8) The pharaoh ant and the common black ant
History of the dark flour beetle
Pests in bird’s nests
Mould fauna
The Look and Behaviour of pests
Insect appearance
Internal
Insect development
Insect senses
Behaviour
Water and Moisture
Temperature
What insects live off and live in
The Air
Mites
Bug Indentification
The various species
Mites
The flour mite
The sugar mite
The common house mite
The Lardoglyphus zacheri
The prune mite
The cheese mite
The house dust mite
The Cheyletus eruditus
Silverfish
The Silverfish
The firebrat
Cockroaches
The German cockroach
The Oriental cockroach
The brown-banded cockroach
The American cockroach
The extermination of cockroaches
Crickets
Earwigs
Booklice
Butterflies
The Mediterranean flour moth
The warehouse moth
Tropical warehouse moth
The brown house moth
The Indian meal moth
Grain beetles
The saw-toothed grain beetle
The merchant grain beetle
The rust-red grain beetle
Flour beetles
The yellow mealworm beetle
The lesser mealworm beetle
The dark flour beetle
The confused flour beetle
The rust-red flour beetle
The bolting cloth beetle
Furniture beetles
The drugstore beetle
The cigarette beetle
Bostrychidae
The lesser grain borer
True weevils snout beetles
The granary weevil
The rice weevil
The corn weevil
Bean weevils
The common bean weevil
The coffee bean weevil
Skin beetles
The bacon beetle
The dermestid beetle
The leather beetle
The khapra beetle
The reesa vespulae
Chequered beetles
The red-legged ham beetle
The red-breasted copra beetle
The black-legged ham beetle
Spider beetles
The Australian spider beetle
The white-marked spider beetle
The golden spider beetle
The smooth spider beetle
Plaster beetles
Flies
The common house fly
The lesser house fly
Blowflies
The grey flesh fly
The cheese skipper
Fruit flies
Hymenoptera
The common black ant
The pharaoh ant
Wasps
Birds
The domestic pigeon
The house sparrow
Prevention and control of birds
Rodents
The house mouse
The yellow-necked mouse
Mouse prevention
Mouse control
The brown rat
The black rat
Rat prevention
Rat control
Imaginary pests
Niches of food pests
A: The Waste Niche
B: The seed niche
C: The dead plant niche
D: The sugary excrement niche
E: The carrion niche
Prevention and Control, Integrated Control
A. Inspection of the company and its environment
The environment
The premises
Examination of raw materials and food on site
Sampling
Laboratory methods for detection of pests in food
B. Statement of the problem
C. Prevention and control
1. Proper organisation of the company
2. Proper operation
3. Exclusion, proofing buildings
4. Packaging
5. Non-chemical control measures
6. Chemical control
D: Effective monitoring and communication
Practical information
Index

Copyright © 2021 · The publisher Pestium Inc. · Europe's largest knowledge database on pests.
Copying and reproduction without permission is prosecuted without prior notice