Fly Control, Flies and Fly Identification

Fly elimination procedures include fly identification, source elimination, exclusion and population reduction. In most cases, population reduction involves eliminating the source of the flies and excluding them from the environment. Other methods of reducing or eliminating flies include the use of toxic baits, non-toxic pheromone traps, space sprays and surface sprays. Restaurants (and other food handling operations or warehouses) usually use ultra violet fly traps that incorporate pheromones for in house fly control, fruit fly elimination. Each situation calls for different tools. Click here for Fly Elimination Products. We recommend that you identify your particular fly pest before choosing products for their elimination. If exact identification is impossible, at least decide if your pest is a Small Fly, Filth Fly or Biting or Nuisance Fly. This will save you time and money!

In fly identification we can easily put flies into one of three basic categories:

Once the category has been chosen, control methods are easier to choose. If you have already correctly identified your fly, go to our Fly Index for more information on the fly. If you already know the breeding/feeding material of your flying pest (dead animals, soil, manure, rotting fruits, etc.) but cannot identify they fly, go to Fly Breeding Sites. For more general information about flies, go to Flies, Order Diptera.

This order has over 86,000 known, with about 16, 300 found in North America. Prevalent in all habitats, flies are easily distinguished from other insects because they have only 1 pair of normal wings. The second pair is represented by 2 knobbed organs called halteres. The halteres are thought to be organs which help stabilize the insect while in flight. Many flies have a membranous lobe at the base of each wing overlying the haltere.

Most flies have large compound eyes and mouthparts that are modified for piercing, lapping or sucking fluids. The antennae range from short, 3-segmented organs to long, thread-like structures. The fly's antennae are feathery in midges and mosquitoes, clubbed in mydas flies.

Flies exhibit complete metamorphosis: egg, larvae (maggot), pupa and adult. The larvae of most species are soft, legless and headless. These maggots live in soil, decaying material or as parasites of vertebrates, snails or other insects. The aquatic, mobile larvae of mosquitoes, midges and certain other groups are more slender and have an easily recognizable head. For the purpose of pest control, the flies most encountered by homes and businesses are broken down into three categories: small flies, filth flies and biting flies. The larvae of these pests can be found in many breeding sites: aquatic areas, seaweed, decaying grass and compost piles, earthworms, manure, dead animals, cadavers, garbage, damp organic matter in all stages of decomposition, sewers, soil contaminated by sewage, potting soil, cheeses, meats, drains, rotting vegetables and fruits, fresh fruits, wet soil and sump pumps.

Some blood-sucking flies are carriers of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Other flies carry bacteria that cause typhoid and dysentery. The beneficial aspects of flies include breaking down carcasses to pollinating flowers. There are many insect pest populations which are kept in check by flies while the flies are a primary source of food for certain wildlife.

Professional Pest Control Products
6920 Pine Forest Road
Pensacola, FL 32526

Call us, between 8:30 & 4:30 weekdays, Central Time
1-800-434-4555

Flies and Fly Control

Fly Elimination

Flies (Order Diptera)