Diptera and the importance of insects

Diptera are insects with one pair of (front) wings; they include flies, mosquitoes, sandflies, horseflies and botflies. The housefly has a hairy body and a cushion-like proboscis and feeds by lapping; it tastes with hairs on its front feet. It lays eggs on dirt such as refuse and dung; the larva has no head or legs. The fly is extremely fertile, gives several generations a season, and spreads germs of dysentery, typhoid and other diseases and worm eggs onto food with its feet. So keep surroundings clean, remove rubbish in time and keep food covered. Female mosquitoes suck the blood of people and animals, males plant sap; the malaria mosquito passes on malaria, and larvae develop in puddles. Sandflies spread skin leishmaniasis (in southern regions). Horseflies pierce the skin of animals to suck blood, and botfly larvae live as parasites under the skin of cattle, in horses’ stomachs and in sheep’s noses.