You Want Flies With That? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Over 100,000

Some examples of fly species are the common house fly, the bush fly, the horse fly, the cluster fly, the blow fly and the gnat. All flies have two wings and the group has been given the name Diptera, which is Greek for "two wings". Fly wings can beat up to 200 times each second, which is faster than a hummingbird. Each fly's eye has over 4,000 facets for sight and flies can smell things over 680 metres away (750 yards). Most other insects have four wings.

The size of a fly can be from half a centimetre (1/20th of an inch) to as big as 6.2 centimetres (three inches). A fly can travel up to 300 times its own body length in one second. A jet plane travelling at the speed of sound, can only travel 100 times its body length in one second.

Answer: Maggot

Maggots hatch the day after the egg is laid and they feed on organic material that is decaying or dead. They are pale white and measure from 3mm to 9 mm in length.

Although it is not a nice subject, sometimes the amount of maggots in a decomposing corpse can help establish the time of death. Specially bred sterile maggots can be used to help septic wounds, as they only eat infected flesh and leave the living healthy tissue alone.

Speaking of house flies, in Australia, one fly in particular is quite famous for his appearances in TV commercials for a brand of insect killer. Louie the Fly has been on Australian TV for over 50 years. It is estimated that at least 90% of Australians recognize him and can sing the Louie the Fly jingle from the TV commercials.

The fly spray company wanted to get rid of Louie as he had been around for such a long time, but a petition was taken up to keep him and so he is still gracing our TV screens. (Us Australians know what's important). In fact, Louie the Fly was suggested as a candidate for a wax model in the Sydney Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum.

It is a little known fact that international best selling South African born Australian author Bryce Courtenay was the person responsible for Louie the Fly, when he worked as a 24 year old in an advertising agency all those years ago.

Answer: About one week

After approximately one week, the maggot will find a suitable cool, dry place and turn into a pupae. The pupae is brownish-red in colour and about 8mm in length. The fly emerges from the pupae as an adult and fully grown.

In one summer season, if one pair of flies mated and all of the eggs turned to maggots, then to pupae and then to flies, and all these flies lived and bred, then there would be a million, million, million flies. In fact, that would be enough flies to cover Australia 11 metres deep.

Answer: About two weeks to one month

A common house fly will live from two weeks to a month. The female is able to mate about 36 hours after her emergence from the pupae. She only mates once and can lay from 400 to 600 eggs in several separate batches. In its short lifetime one fly can produce 3,000 offspring.

Answer: True

Flies rest a night, ideally in the corners of rooms, from ceiling hangings, etc. According to some scientists, flies actually sleep at night. They do not like the cold, but prefer warmer weather. When the weather is cold, they will stay close to humans.

Answer: Up to 6 million

Because flies love to hang out in animal excrement, garbage cans and other not so nice places, they can carry millions of bacteria and spread disease such as typhoid, cholera, gangrene, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, leprosy, diphtheria and scarlet fever, just to name a few.

As flies can only ingest liquid, they vomit on food to start the liquefying process. Their saliva then turns it to liquid so it can be swallowed. A fly can defecate every four to five minutes. Remember this the next time you see a fly on your plate!

Answer: Africa

The tsetse fly inhabits over 30 African countries. These flies live by feeding on blood of vertebrate animals. They produce about four generations each year and the female only fertilizes one egg at a time which is kept in the uterus and emerges as a larvae. Tsetse flies are responsible for "sleeping sickness".

Scientists have estimated that over 60 million African people are at risk of contracting sleeping sickness. At least 10,000 cases of sleeping sickness occur each year, however many cases are thought to be unreported.

The signs of sleeping sickness are fever, which lasts from a day to a week, headaches, joint pains and itching. The lymph nodes can swell severely and sores can develop at the site of the tsetse bite. More severe results of tsetse fly bites are cardiac and kidney dysfunctions, and the invasion of the central nervous system. Sleep disruption occurs at this stage, with differing sleep patterns. If not treated, the disease is usually fatal. No vaccine exists for immunity against this disease.

Answer: Fat footpads and glue-like substance

Each foot of a fly has two fat footpads and the hairs on the feet secrete a glue-like substance made of sugar and oils. The large footpads enable the fly to have more surface area. However, scientists have discovered that it is not so easy for a fly to unstick itself.

They use a few methods to unstick their feet from the ceiling, such as twisting their footpads or jerking their feet. They also have claws on their feet to help pull a footpad free.

Answer: True

"Mosquito" means "little fly" in Spanish. If a mosquito was to drain all the blood from a human body, it would take over 1.2 million bites. Mosquitoes can carry malaria and it is estimated that about five million people every year catch malaria and an estimated two million people world wide die each year from it. Malaria has killed more humans than any other known disease.

A mosquito beats its wings 600 times a second and they can detect a human from at least 20 metres (65 feet) distance. There are over 2,500 types of mosquitoes and there are an estimated 100 trillion mosquitoes world-wide. Quick, give me the insect spray!

Answer: Midge

Gnats, or midges, are quite often mistaken for mosquitoes, as they can look very similar. These tiny insects swarm together, sometimes in their thousands. They can be black, brown or grey in colour.

Their eggs are laid over water and hatch in about three days, when the larvae drop to the bottom of the water to feed on algae and other such pond matter. These larvae can be green, white or red. They turn into pupae in about four weeks and emerge after approximately 24 hours as an adult. They have a fairly short life-span of about 5 to 10 days. Like mosquitoes, they are night insects.