Pest, fruit fly...? I dont know.. - Megaselia scalaris

Moved

… Eric R. Eaton, 10 September, 2009 - 1:24pm

Scuttle fly

This is a "scuttle fly" in the family Phoridae. By far the most abundant species is Megaselia scalaris. The females lay eggs in decaying organic matter where the larvae develop. I find them every so often in the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink. They are at most a nuisance.

… Eric R. Eaton, 10 September, 2009 - 1:04pm

Detail

is there some detail that helps ID Megaselia scalaris, or is that just the default ID? Maybe I can't see enough detail on my monitor at work.

… John R. Maxwell, 10 September, 2009 - 2:02pm

Thank you Thank you!

Thank you very much for your reply ~ even though reading the info on this little bug is scary it will help me treat em and evict them from my house :)

Any suggestions on getting rid of the little buggers?

… Chuck, 10 September, 2009 - 1:27pm

hmm the obvious but hidden cause to this little bugger..

Ok.. after posting this picture and getting much help identifying this little guy.. we started a google hunt to what could be wrotting in our house.

Now I am a very clean guy and was knocking my head against the counter because I couldnt figure what could live since "bleach" is my middle name(not really).. I am telling ya.. If it has to be cleaned bleach is what I use.. straight bleach, clorox bleach in the bottle.. either the two.. and everything is clean.. besides the drains which leads to the septic tank.. which hadnt been cleaned out since we had moved in.

So we called a septic tank guy out and from what he showed us.. the people who owned our house before us never cleaned out the septic tank either. Our house has 3 tanks, one closes to the house is where solids goes, the seconds is where liquids end up .. and the third is the pump that takes what ever it takes out..

The one closes to the house with the solids ends up being quite full allowing the flies to scurry up the line into the house.

So the guy takes a bar and pops the lid on the tank closes to the house and POOF..motherload of all flies pop out.. he said it was where our problem started and is going to end. He had the whole 3 tanks pumped in matter of minutes. We had plans on going to Universal studios for a week and decided to take up and cork all drains with spungs and packing tape.. that way if any was to get through they would get stuck on the tape.

Happy to say since having the septic tank pumped all bugs are gone.

… Chuck, 28 October, 2009 - 9:21pm