Fruit Fly Life Cycle With Pictures + How Long it Takes | PestWeek (2024)
The life cycle of a fruit fly is divided into four stages. Those are the egg, larva, pupa, and adult. However, the cycle duration depends on environmental factors like moisture and temperature.
When temperatures are maintained at 22–26°C (71–78°F), a fruit fly’s life cycle lasts 2 weeks. After the egg is laid, it takes 1 day to hatch into larvae. After 8 days, the larvae will develop into a pupa. The pupa lasts about 6 days and finally develops into an adult fruit fly.
Table of Contents
1 What are the stages of a fruit fly’s life cycle?
1.1 1. Egg
1.2 2. Larva
1.3 3. Pupa
1.4 4. Adult
2 How temperature affects the life cycle of a fruit fly
3 Adult fruit flies
4 How are fruit flies formed?
4.1 What do fruit flies eat?
4.2 Baby fruit flies
5 Author
What are the stages of a fruit fly’s life cycle?
Thefour stages of a fruit fly’slife cycle are namelytheegg, larvae, pupa, and adult. In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at this in detail. Here is a brief breakdown of the four stages involved in the fruit fly life cycle:
1. Egg
The cycle begins with the female laying eggs on the surface of moist, organic materials such as fruits, mushrooms, sap fluxes, etc. the fruit fly prefers rotting fruits and vegetables.
Female fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs over the course of their relatively short lifespan, around 5 at a time. The eggs are about 0.5 mm long.
2. Larva
A larva appears from the egg in the next stage of the fruit life cycle. This typically takes about 24 hours of hatching the eggs, but it can vary depending on the temperature.
The larva continues growing for 4 days and molts two times into 2ndand 3rd-instar larvae.During this period, the larva feeds on sugars from the decomposing fruit and microorganisms decomposing the fruits.
This is the cycle’s final stage, when the larva undergoes metamorphosis (transformation from one life form to another).
During this stage, the developing fruit fly (larva) develops a hard outer skin that serves as its housing for 4-6 weeks. Inside this protective layering, the pupa develops wings and color.
At this point, the fruit fly develops from a fat maggot to an insect that will soon be flying around in your house or garden. During the puparium phase, the pupa depends entirely on the food it has previously consumed and stored during the larval stage.
4. Adult
Finally, an adult is ready to emerge. The adult can fly and reproduce in a matter of 2 days. Adult fruit flies are notable for their characteristic red eyes and feathery antennae.
How temperature affects the life cycle of a fruit fly
At 83°F (28 degrees Celsius), a fruit fly egg only takes 7 days to develop into an adult fruit fly.
When the temperature is increased to 90°F (32 degrees Celsius), the life cycle of a fruit fly takes 11 days.
When the temperature is dropped to 74°F (24degrees Celsius), the complete life cycle takes up to 7 weeks.
In an overcrowded environment, the fruit fly life cycle time increases, but the resulting adults tend to be smaller in size.
Well, the life cycle of a fruit fly varies between 8 and 10 days under normal conditions. The lifespan of a fruit flyafter it is fully developed into an adult depends on where the eggs were laid.
Here is a video showing a fruit fly’s life cycle under the microscope:
Adult fruit flies
If you are wondering, “How do you get fruit flies?” after noticing an upsurge in their numbers in your kitchen or within your house, you may have gotten them in one of two main ways.
Firstly, you could have “imported” them from your last purchase of fruits. Yes, those seemingly fresh fruits from your local grocery store could have been harboring some fruit fly eggslaid on them.
After undergoing the fruit fly life cycle described in the previous section, the eggs may have given rise to those undesired guests.
Secondly, adult fruit flies may have smelled the alluring aroma of those ripening fruits in your house and thought how much a savory dish could make for them.
And after hours of looking for entry points around your house, they finally discovered the window or a small hole or crack somewhere and are now your unappreciated guests.
How are fruit flies formed?
“Every now and then, I see a fruit fly buzzing around in my bedroom and I am getting tired of hunting them down. My friend thinks that they come from inside rotting fruits but I never have fruits in the bedroom. How are fruit flies born really?” Angel
That question was asked by one of our readers after reading another related article in our network about getting rid of fruit flies in your home.
Fruit flies actually don’t emanate from inside the rotting fruits, as the popular belief goes. Instead, they emanate from the surface of rotting fruits after adult fruit flies lay eggs. The eggs hatch and develop into adult fruit flies in a period of 8-10 days.
Fruit flies are one of the fastest breeding species, and an adult fruit fly is able to start laying eggs within just 2 days.
Now consider that each adult can lay as many as 500 eggs in its short lifetime, and you will know why fruit flies can be such mayhem in your home or kitchen.
What do fruit flies eat?
So, what do fruit flies eat? Well, fruit flies are herbivores that feed on fruits and vegetables right from the day they are hatched from their eggs as a larva stage to the day they reach adulthood.
This is why adult fruit flies lay their eggs on the surface of rotting fruits and organic substances like vegetables and rotting mushrooms. The larvae can also appear on stale food. This can be seen as maggots in stale cooked food like rice, bananas, meat, or rotting fruits.
The hatched larva easily obtains its required nutrients from the rotting fruits and vegetables; it feeds on the sugar and the microorganisms responsible for the decay process.
The pupa doesn’t need any food during the 4-6 days of this life cycle stage; instead, they thrive on the food accumulated during the larval stage.
Adult fruit flies are herbivores and feed exclusively on fruits, vegetables, and other decaying organic materials.
Rotting fruits are, however, their favorite. Adult fruit flies are ready to start feeding on your fruits and vegetables right from day one. Fermenting liquids can as well serves as food for fruit flies.
Fruit flies secrete a liquid that breakdown fruits before feeding on them. For this reason, the first step in getting rid of fruit fliesin your home is to ensure that you don’t leave fruits lying around in the open.
Baby fruit flies
One fruit fly can produce as many as 500 eggs, which may roll down to 500 baby fruit flies (even though that is not possible biologically speaking).
Now consider the fact that each baby fruit fly can start its reproductive life in just 2 days, with each egg taking just a couple of days to develop. You will see how those little flies have a high potential of infesting your home.
Luckily, you can use numerous solutions to get rid of them from your home. Homemade fruit fly traps are one of the best ways to keep those flies out of your home safely.
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Fruit flies undergo three stages of development before emerging as adults: egg, larva and pupa. At room temperature, fruit flies can develop into adults within one to two weeks. The egg and larval stages span approximately eight days, while the pupal stage lasts six days.The adult fruit fly lives for several weeks.
The fruit fly life cycle is made up of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Most of the fly's life is spent as an adult, with development usually taking less than two weeks.
Over the course of three to six days, the pupae develop legs and wings, ultimately emerging as full-grown house flies. Within two to three days, female house flies are capable of reproduction.
Fruit flies are holometabolous insects; that is, they undergo complete metamorphosis during their life cycle. The life cycle consists of four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
House flies and other larger flies that usually infest a house can live for days, maybe even months. Mayflies, however, usually only have a 24 hour lifespan.
Fruit flies can go up to 7 days without eating. After 4-5 days of starvation, they begin to succumb. So, food availability is a major determinant in determining a fruit fly's lifespan.
Where Do Fruit Flies Come From? Fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs at a time near the surface of fermenting (ripening) foods or other organic materials like the soil in your houseplants. They can also lay their eggs in sink drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, garbage bags, and even damp mops and sponges.
Fruit flies often come in to your home through cracks in walls, loose seals around doors or windows, or via eggs laid inside of a piece of produce from the grocery store. Fruit flies can seem to come from out of nowhere to infest your home, but this is mainly due to how quickly fruit flies breed and develop.
Fill a bowl with vinegar and add a drop of dish soap, mixing well. The stale sweetness of the apple cider vinegar tempts flies, and the dish soap works to decrease the surface tension of the liquid, causing the flies to become immersed immediately upon investigating the solution and unable to escape.
One of the easiest methods for killing maggots is to simply pour a kettle full of boiling water over the maggot infestation, as this will kill them instantly. Then, you can drain off the water — if you've found maggots in your trash can, for example — and clean the area effectively.
The circadian regulation is responsible for the change in sleep propensity that is tied to the time of day, with obvious adaptive advantages. Flies are diurnal animals and sleep mainly at night, even when kept in constant darkness (Shaw et al. 2000).
Before sunset, a sleepy fly will try and find a safe place to rest. Some favourite places are on the undersides of leaves, twigs, and branches, or even in tall grass or under rocks. They need a comfortable place to sleep that will shelter them from the cold, rain and wind.
The reproductive potential of fruit flies is enormous; given the opportunity, they will lay about 500 eggs. The entire lifecycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week. Fruit flies are especially attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables in the kitchen.
Domestic flies all have a similar life cycle. There are four stages of growth -egg, larva (or maggot), pupa, and adult. Depending upon the type of fly, it may take about one to four weeks for the cycle to be completed. Eggs are laid by the female fly onto breeding material, usually dead animal or vegetable material.
Within 24 to 30 hours, fruit fly eggs hatch into larvae known as maggots. These maggots feed on the fruits within which they were laid. Within one week, maggots burrow through the decaying matter and molt. After five to six days, larvae move to a dry surface and transform into pupae.
Researchers believe the record for shortest adult life span belongs to the female mayfly called Dolania americana. After spending a year or more living on the bottom of a stream in its aquatic nymph form, it emerges as a flying adult — and lives for less than five minutes.
The mayfly Dolania americana in which females typically live less than five minutes is the shortest lived of these, and is therefore the insect with the shortest reproductive life (Sweeney & Vannote 1982).
The life expectancy of a housefly is generally 15 to 30 days and depends upon temperature and living conditions. Flies dwelling in warm homes and laboratories develop faster and live longer than their counterparts in the wild.
Cold temperatures, however, will stunt the development of new generations of fruit flies. Scientists have found that at 60°F, the lifespan of fruit flies decreases. When the temperatures fall below 53°F, these flies stop developing entirely.
In most instances, spotting a fly on your food doesn't mean you need to throw it out. While there is little doubt that flies can carry bacteria, viruses and parasites from waste to our food, a single touchdown is unlikely to trigger a chain reaction leading to illness for the average healthy person.
Bleach is an effective product to use in drains to help get rid of fruit flies. The bleach will help get rid of the clogged decaying organic material that is attracting the fruit flies. Pour bleach into the drain, following label instructions, and then flush the drain with fresh water.
Fruit flies are commonly found in bathrooms because they love moisture. A bathroom drain is full of moist organic matter, making it the perfect place for these fruit flies to reproduce. Since female flies can lay dozens of eggs each day, what started out as a few flies can quickly become hundreds of flies.
Fruit flies have no problem surviving in a fridge. If you store your fresh fruits inside your fridge, then there's a big chance of a fruit fly invasion. Infestation can appear in other parts of the house like the bathroom, as well. Just like normal flies, fruit flies can cross contaminate your food.
Cleaning your kitchen will stop fruit flies from reproducing, but you'll probably want to get rid of the bugs buzzing around your home too. (You could just wait for them to die off, but they can live for two weeks or longer in the right conditions.)
If there is no fruit or vegetable matter in your kitchen, check your garbage and recycling bins. Fruit flies may also use unclean drains as breeding grounds. Outdoor drains are likely sources of yard-based fruit flies, as are overripe fruits beneath the trees from which they have fallen.
How do I get rid of fruit flies quickly? A fast way of getting rid of fruit flies is by pouring boiling white vinegar or boiling water down your drains. Fruit flies like to live in moist and hidden locations, such as drains and garbage disposals.
A mixture of apple cider vinegar and dish soap can help you trap flies and kill them. Mix about an inch of apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap in a tall glass. Cover the glass with plastic wrap, secure it with a rubber band and poke small holes in the top.
Vinegar (or acetic acid) is the ultimate product of the fermentation process in fruit, which is why fruit flies are attracted to vinegar odor. However, both low and high concentrations of vinegar odor leave flies indifferent (left).
Flies and co*ckroaches satisfy six of the criteria. According to the framework, this amounts to “strong evidence” for pain. Despite weaker evidence in other insects, many still show “substantial evidence” for pain.
The fly's heart is a 1 mm long muscular tube that runs along the dorsal side of the abdomen, and contains a number of intake valves. At the anterior end of the abdomen, nearest the fly's waist, the heart narrows and becomes the aorta, which travels through the fly's thorax and opens up in the head.
Flies are more than just a nuisance. These buzzing insects also play important roles in nature, including pollinating plants, breaking down organic material, and serving as food for other bugs and animals.
By constantly cleaning the dirt from their claws, they enable themselves to increase chances of survival. They also sharpen their senses, so they're able to land on a surface and determine if the food they're touching is edible to them. In other words, cleanliness is a matter of life or death for the fly.
Answer and Explanation: The blood of flies is similar to the blood of most insects, which is clear or clear with a slight tint of yellow and green. In part, this is because insects have open circulatory systems that mix their blood with the interstitial fluid surrounding their tissues.
Fruit fly larvae are a possible prey of ants and staphylinid beetles. Chickens and other fowl may eat fruit fly larvae present on overripe fruits and vegetables and sometimes consume fly pupae found beneath trees. Other common larval and pupal fruit fly predators include predaceous wasps, mites and crickets.
These tiny insects are attracted to moist places, so they are often found near sinks, showers, and drains. Female fruit flies lay their eggs in these damp areas, and the larvae feed on organic matter like hair and soap scum.
The majority of gnats and flies are attracted to certain smells, especially fruit and sweet scents. Most of us use a variety of personal hygiene products. So if you're asking, ‟Why are gnats attracted to my face?” the answer might be the soap, perfume, lotion or hair spray that you use.
These hatch within 48 hours into smooth, white legless maggot larvae and after 3 moults mature into pupae. Approximately 3-4 weeks after this they develop into adult flies.
As gross as it may sound, the answer is yes – a dead fly can turn into a maggot. This is because flies lay their eggs in decaying matter, such as dead animals or food, and the larvae that hatch from these eggs are maggots.
A person may accidentally ingest maggots if they eat spoiled food that has become contaminated with fly larvae. Accidentally eating maggots is generally not a cause for concern, but it can sometimes lead to health complications, such as bacterial poisoning. A maggot is the larva of the common housefly.
Research shows that fruit flies can transfer germs from a dirty surface onto a clean one. Some of the bacteria they may carry include salmonella, E. coli, and listeria. These three germs each cause food poisoning.
Do Fruit Flies Bite? Since fruit or vinegar flies prefer fermenting fruit and food particles in mop water or even on wet mops, these flies do not feed on blood, and they do not have biting mouthparts. So, these flies do not bite people even though infestations may total thousands.
In drip pans under the refrigerator. In sink or floor drains. Under kitchen appliances where fruit juice or vegetable juices may have spilled. Around or under loose floor or counter tiles.
Apple cider vinegar works better than white vinegar for fruit flies because it smells like fermenting fruit. Red wine vinegar will also work, but it tends to be more expensive than ACV. Microwave the mixture for 20 seconds or so to enhance the smell of the vinegar, then place the bowl in an area with a lot of flies.
Fill a microwave-safe bowl with apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. Microwave the bowl so the mixture becomes even more aromatic. Leave the bowl out uncovered as fruit fly bait. The soap will reduce the surface tension, causing any fruit fly that lands on the surface to drown.
2. Use Deterring Scents. Fruit flies hate several rather nice smelling natural scents, including peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and clove.
Fruit flies are especially attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. But they also will breed in drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. All that is needed for development is a moist film of fermenting material.
Method #1: Apple Cider Vinegar and Liquid Soap Trap
Make a simple but powerful fruit fly trap by putting a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a small mason jar with a couple of drops of liquid soap, such as baby shampoo (which is optional). If you added soap, mix well and cover the jar with a layer of foil.
Fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs at a time near the surface of fermenting (ripening) foods or other organic materials like the soil in your houseplants. They can also lay their eggs in sink drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, garbage bags, and even damp mops and sponges.
A fruit fly infestation won't just go away on its own—it'll likely only get worse. Even if the adult fruit flies die, you'll continue to get new fruit flies every day unless you cut off the source. If you do nothing, they'll just breed on unnoticed crumbs, spills, and food particles.
How did I get fruit flies? Fruit flies often infest homes with ripe, rotting, or decayed fruit and produce. They also enjoy fermented items such as beer, liquor, and wine. Fruit flies also may breed and develop in drains, garbage disposals, trash cans, and mop buckets.
Fruit flies often come in to your home through cracks in walls, loose seals around doors or windows, or via eggs laid inside of a piece of produce from the grocery store. Fruit flies can seem to come from out of nowhere to infest your home, but this is mainly due to how quickly fruit flies breed and develop.
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