The One Musical Key Houseflies Always Buzz In

Publish date: 2024-05-07

We tend to think of flies as something of a monolith, but as any entomologist will tell you, they're actually super diverse. There are an estimated 150,000 different fly species, according to the University of Queensland Australia, though as Britannica reports, around 90% of flies found in your home are house flies.

Also called Musca domestica Linnaeus, house flies are known for feeding on pretty gross foods: namely, feces and garbage, according to the University of Florida. They also reproduce rapidly, meaning letting just a couple of houseflies into your home can quickly turn into a full-scale invasion. Most flies live between 15 and 60 days, and in that time can birth as many as 1,000 offspring, per Britannica. Like many insects, they undergo standard larva and pupa stages of development which culminate in their adult form: the classic, lightweight black housefly with huge eyes and ultra-thin wings.

But in none of their forms do houseflies have vocal cords (via Mental Floss). In fact, in terms of "speaking," they're entirely silent animals. So how do houseflies make that annoying buzz?

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