Musca autumnalis, Autumn House Fly

Common Name: Autumn House Fly

Musca autumnalis, more commonly known as the Autumn House Fly or Face Fly, is very similar to the house fly, especially the female, but her eyes are closer together and her body is more rounded than in M. domestica. The male has more orange on his abdomen.

They often enter houses and other buildings in autumn, just as the house fly population is declining, and hibernate for the winter. They are most likely to invade farm homes or homes located near pastures or where cattle are kept since the eggs are laid in cow pats and the larvae develop there also.

During the summer, the adults feed on the mucous secretions from the eyes and noses of cattle and horses and, more opportunistically, on blood from open wounds caused by Horse Flies and similar.

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