Flies are one of the most versatile and skillful creatures in the world. They are famous for the vast range of species of about 120,000. Flies are spread all over the world and are well-known in every country and every place on Earth. Shockingly, flies have interested scientists and have more attention to them because of their fascinating flying abilities. As well as, flies suit themselves in every environment condition, which makes their population even more vast. These tiny but skillful creatures play an essential role in the environment, pollination and decomposition. In spite of keeping the balance of the ecosystem, they also play a role as pests in the environment.
As flies are all over us and we always try to fly control at our place but on the other hand it is important to remember they also need food to survive. For their food resources, flies have developed a lot of consumption from human surroundings. Their food consumption is not only important for their existence but also from an ecological point of view. This article will help you to learn what do flies eat, their feeding mechanism, and how flies aid decomposition.
What Do Flies Eat in General?
Flies are considered to be diligent feeders. Mostly, their feeding process depends on their types and the environment in which they are living. For example, some flies rather suck or sponge the food matter instead of chew it. As their mouths are adapted to consume liquid or semi-liquid food according to their mouth construction.
Sugary Food: Most flies are mostly fascinated by sugary matter such as fruits, nectar juices and other sugary products. These food items are especially full of carbohydrates which are essential to make them active and nourish.
Organic Matter: Flies play an important role in decomposition. They mainly decompose vegetative, dead animal matter, and rotten fruits. They also decompose plant matter. Decomposition is mostly common in houseflies and fruit flies.
Human food: Flies have always been disgraceful for attacking human food. They left no place when it comes to the food available at our houses. Whether it’s something in the kitchen to the food in the garbage areas, they consume every food item that comes their way.
Animal Waste: Some flies like house flies consume animal feces, which provides them with essential nutrients and energy. These nutrients help them to provide energy and reproduction processes.
How Do Flies Eat?
The eating mechanism is important to understand as the feeding mechanism of flies decides their dietary routines. Flies are able to consume different substances because of the special constructions of their mouths.
Spongy Mouth Structure: Some types of flies have sponging mouthparts. These flies are only able to consume liquid food. If they consume any solid matter, they have to produce a digestive enzyme to change it into a liquid form. After this, their digestive system works regularly. The flies that are included in this category include houseflies.
Piercing and Sucking Mouths: Certain flies have piercing and sucking mouthparts. Horse flies and mosquitoes are included in this category. Mosquitoes adapt this feature to suck the blood from humans to complete their nutrients for reproduction purposes. Whereas horse flies feed on the blood of humans and animals as well.
Regurgitation: According to the studies, flies eject a digestive liquid on the food to break it down into smaller parts. By this they make it easier for them to consume their food. By this they can also consider a variety of food matter to feed upon.
How Flies Aid Decomposition?
Flies play a vital role in the ecosystem through the decomposition process. They break down the organic matter into small matter and also recycle nutrients for small organisms. From the process of decomposition, it is clear that flies contribute a balance in the ecosystem by their feeding habits.
Feeding on the dead: Some types of flies, such as blow flies and flesh flies, fed upon corpses. These flies lay their eggs on the dead flesh of animals. While their larvae, also known as maggots, feed upon the tissue for further growth.
Decomposition of plant matter: Many fly types are attractive to the plants and extract rotten plant matter from them. By doing this activity, they decompose essential nutrients from rotten fruits and vegetables. At the same time, recycling the nutrients back into the soil for more reproduction.
Flies’ contribution to the ecosystem: Hence, it is important to note how much flies contribute to the ecosystem as recyclers. They help in breaking down the organic matter which would otherwise expand. This process is also essential for soil and plant health.
Diet of Different Types of Flies
However, different concepts are there for what flies eat. There are different types of flies exhibit different dietary plans and strategies according to their situations. Below, we are going to discuss five major fly species’ diets. From this, it would be clear what do flies eat and what type of flies feed on type of food.
House flies: House flies feed on a variety of food products. It includes different sugar matters like fruit, juices and all types of sugars. They also decompose dead organic matter into smaller substances for other organisms. House flies are also fed up with animal waste. Their creativity allows them to exist in different environments.
Fruit flies: As seen from their name, fruit flies are often attracted to fruit juices or rotten fruits. They are specifically fed up with the fermentation sugars, which are the main ingredient of rotten fruits.
Horseflies: These flies are fed up on mammal blood and are also notorious for their painful bites. Their feeding routine makes them able to reproduce.
Blowflies: Blowflies feed on animal tissue and lay their eggs on carcasses, where they often live. The larvae of blowflies are of great importance as they are used in forensic science. These larvae are used to calculate their time of death.
Mosquitoes: The females feed on the blood of mammals to provide proteins to their eggs. Their diet helps them to nourish their eggs during reproduction.
Conclusion
After this detailed discussion, I hope it is clear to you that what do flies eat. All species of flies have different and specific diet plans. These diet plans are decided on the environment in which they live, the construction of their mouth parts and their surroundings. Flies also show their role in the ecosystem by their feeding routines. The flies which feed on organic matter play a crucial role in the ecosystem and can’t be denied. So flies have positive as well as negative impacts on the environment.
