We love to 'hate' them, the housefly (Musca domestica) is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It possibly originated in the Middle East, and spread around the world as a commensal of humans. It is the most common fly species found in houses. Adults are grey to black, with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hairy bodies, and a single pair of membranous wings. They have red eyes, set farther apart in the slightly larger female.
They can carry pathogens on their bodies and in their faeces, contaminate food, and contribute to the transfer of food-borne illnesses, while, in numbers, they can be physically annoying. For these reasons, they are considered pests.
The fly has been espoused in literature.
The Impertinent Insect is a group of five fables, sometimes ascribed to Aesop, concerning an insect, in one version a fly, which puffs itself up to seem important.
In the Biblical fourth plague of Egypt, flies represent death and decay, while the Philistine god Beelzebub's name may mean "lord of the flies".
In Greek mythology, Myiagros was a god who chased away flies during the sacrifices to Zeus and Athena; Zeus sent a fly to bite Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall back to Earth when he attempted to ride the winged steed to Mount Olympus.
In the traditional Navajo religion, Big Fly is an important spirit being.
William Blake's 1794 poem "The Fly", part of his collection Songs of Experience, deals with the insect's mortality, subject to uncontrollable circumstances, just like humans.Emily Dickinson's 1855 poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" speaks of flies in the context of death.
In William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, the fly is, however, a symbol of the children involved.
Ogden Nash's humorous two-line 1942 poem "God in His wisdom made the fly/And then forgot to tell us why." indicates the debate about the value of biodiversity, given that even those considered by humans as pests have their place in the world's ecosystems.
