Science Corner 2 - The scientific way to swat a fly

[The fly - Know your enemy, ...] [know yourself] [... then go for the swat!]

Know your enemy...

The fly can actually be seen as a wonder of nature - unfortunately the sole reason for its existence seems to be the annoyance of human and other beings. It might be surprising to learn that flies also have beneficial roles (e.g. pollination, the reduction and recycling of biological wastes, and its - fruit fly/Drosophila - role in genetics studies). Nevertheless the prime instinct in most human beings still is "swat that pest"!
In order to be able to do this it is surely helpful to know as much of "the enemy" as necessary. The housefly, Musca domestica, is probably the most encountered species in moderate climates. In addition to this splendid kind of the insects of the order Diptera, or true flies, there are also the fruit fly, gnat, mosquito, midge, blowfly, botfly, crane fly, deerfly and horsefly. They all have a single pair of membranous forewings, with knob-shaped vestigial wings which are called halteres and are used as balancing organs. In order to keep it simple the flying pest will still be referred to as "fly".

The life-cycle is shown in the following illustration:

During warm weather, it will live about one month. With only some additional bits of knowledge (all other bits are left out for fly-worshippers) this one-month-period can be drastically reduced by effective swatting:
The flight pattern: The fly is a VTO-insect (vertical take off) and in this way bears some striking similarity to a Harrier AV-8B "Jump Jet". Both are hard to hit in mid-flight; Harrier pilots use VIFFing - vectoring in forward flight - for awkward dogfight maneuvers, flies can do this thanks to their wing-apparatus. As a consequence the start is the most promising time for a hit. The fly's senses are very well developed - its compound eyes (with an "ommatidium" as basic unit) cover a wide angle and are particularly good in detecting quick assault movements.

Currently under construction, will be completed soon!

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