Flesh Flies, Root-maggot Flies, House Flies

Here we deal with 4 families on one page. And that does have a reason. These three groups may include the best known flies, such as the Bluebottle and the Green Bottle and the House Fly, but usually there are more species hidden behind the ones we think we know. And that is not all. Root-maggot Flies and House Flies actually are two separate families. But the difference between the two families is so subtle, that often you can't tell from a photograph to which family a given fly belongs. I will try to keep things simple here, but always read the extra text on the page about the species for further information.

The four families on this page are: the Fleshflies, Sarcophagidae and the Blowflies, Calliphoridae which were treated as one family in the past. The third family is called House Flies, or True Flies Muscidae, including our infamous House Fly. The last family is comprised of all kinds of flies, often not really looking like one another and called Root-maggot Flies Anthomyiidae. At times it may be extremely hard to tell a Root-maggot Fly apart from a House Fly.