Lesser house fly
The lesser house fly is a slim, grey little fly, a bit smaller than the ordinary house fly. You often see it flying round and round in the middle of a room, under the lamp. It zooms in straight lines and then turns sharply, as if it were drawing a zigzag.
How big is it?
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Fun facts
Those circles under the lamp are a patrol flight: the boy flies are guarding their space and chasing away other flies.
It flies almost silently, unlike the buzzing house fly.
Even though it looks like a house fly, it is not a close relative at all.
A mother fly can lay up to 2000 eggs, and the eggs can float on sloppy, rotting stuff.
A grown-up fly lives only two to three weeks.
Most asked questions about Lesser house fly
?Why do flies fly in circles under the lamp?
Those are boy lesser house flies on patrol. They guard their space in the middle of the room and chase other flies away.
?Is the lesser house fly dangerous?
It does not bite or sting, but it can carry germs from dung to food. Keep food covered.
?How long does a lesser house fly live?
A grown-up fly lives about two to three weeks.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Fannia canicularis
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Fanniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Fanniidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Little house fly
Where the facts come from
- Lesser house fly (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Janet Graham. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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