Stable Fly Blood Sucking Pests

Stable flies also known as "biting flies" can deliver a painful bite. They bite people, livestock, pets and other mammals. The bites may feel like a needle stab and typically occur around the ankles and lower parts of the legs. Stable flies are very persistent when searching for a blood meal.

A very similar-looking relative of the housefly is the stable fly, sometimes called the dog fly. It is unlike other domestic flies because it actually bites and sucks blood. It breeds in decaying vegetation and can be common around livestock. Sometimes it becomes abundant at the beach where it breeds in rotting marsh vegetation or seaweed that has been washed ashore.

Habitat:

As its name suggests, the stable fly is abundant in and around where cattle are kept. Its maggots are often seen in the rotting manure near cattle and poultry.

Biology:

The adults of both sexes feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals during the daytime. For egg production, the female requires its abdomen to be engorged with blood. The female takes approximately 2–5 minutes to engorge, after which it becomes sluggish for a while. The eggs are laid among putrefying organic materials such as hay, manure, and wood. Males usually die after mating and the females after laying eggs. The life cycle is completed in approximately two weeks at temperatures around 27 °C. The duration is highly dependent on temperature and nutrient quality available for the larvae, noted that the larvae can endure for more than 30 days in less nutritious environs.

Economic importance:

Cattle heavily infested with stable flies have been noted to become anemic and milking cows have been observed to show lower milk production. The stable fly bites humans at rest in the outdoors; generally the bite is almost painless. In many parts of the world, the species is a carrier of trypanosomid parasites.