ICSE Class 9 Answered

The housefly passes through four stages in its lifecycle—the egg, larva, pupa and adult.

• Egg: The eggs of a housefly are white, cylindrical and about 1 mm long. The egg hatches into a larva in about 12 hours.
• Larva: The larva of a housefly is called the maggot. It is creamy white with a long conical segmented body. It does not have legs and creeps or wriggles through the debris with the help of the mouth and spiny pads present on the underside of the last seven segments. A fully grown larva is about 2 cm long. It changes into the resting stage called the pupa.
• Pupa: The pupa is barrel-shaped and dark in colour. The outer covering of the pupa is called cocoon or puparium, which provides protection. The pupal stage lasts for about 5 days.
• Adult: The adult or the imago of the housefly escapes by breaking the puparium. The adult fly feeds and becomes sexually mature in about 2 weeks.

  Answered by | 17 May, 2016, 08:38: AM