Family Muscidae..Genus Stomoxy (Stable Flies)

• Also called as stable flies
• These are biting house flies. Bite of the fly is very painful.
• These are important vectors of many helminthes and protozoan infections.
• Specie important is S. Calcitran.

Morphology

• Size if 5.5-7.5mm and color of the fly is grey.
• Four dark, longitudinal stripes are present on the thorax.
• Mouth (proboscis) is projected forward.
• Mouth part is composed of labium, labrum and hypopharynx which carries salivary duct and delivers anticoagulant into host tissue.

Life Cycle

• Adult female lay eggs on decaying organic matter or rotting material or wheat straw, rice straw and hay contaminated by urine and feces of animals.
• Eggs are laid in batches. Each batch contains 25-50 eggs.
• Egg hatch in 1-4 days depending upon the environmental conditions.
• From the egg, larva develops. Larva maturation takes place in 6-30 days depending upon the environmental conditions. 27-29°C is the optimum temperature for larval development.
• From the larva, pupa emerges.
• From the pupa, adult emerges.
• It requires 12-60 days for completion of life cycle (egg-adult).
• Adult requires several blood meals before ovary matures and egg laying starts.

Pathogenic Effects

• Mouth parts swing downward and penetration of skin is achieved by rasping effect of teeth which lies at the end of the labium.
• It is very painful bite for animal.
• 3 minutes are required for a complete blood meal.
• Feeding is often interrupted thus allowing pathogenic organisms to enter into the body of flies and multiply there.
• Same fly when sucking blood from another animal, transmits the pathogenic organism into the other animal.
• Habronema (nematodal infection) and Trypnosomiasis (protozoan infection) are transmitted by these flies.
• Creates restlessness for the animal and human beings
• It causes production losses of 20-25 %.
• Prefer strong sunlight to live and present in abundance on building and farm.

Treatment & Control

• Provide good hygienic conditions.
• Destruction of breeding places is very much important.
• Proper drainage of the area is very important.
• Use insecticides;

Organo Chlorine…… DDT, hexachlorocyclohexane/ benzene hexachloride

Organic phosphate…. Trichlorofen, neguvan, cumafex, neocidal, diazinon and asuntal

Synthetic pyrethroid...Cypermethrine and Ecoflee

Carbamates…

• Use of flies repellant sprays such as spoton and sporon.
• Valuable animals must have ear tags, nose ring and tail bands impregnated with insecticides.
• Lower the animal movement during maximum activity of flies.