Maggots' Life Cycle

The common name of the larval phase of development in insects belonging to the Diptera fly order, is called maggot. Several fishing enthusiasts use maggots to catch non-predatory fish. Besides fishing, maggots are also found useful in therapies, wherein these maggots are introduced to the wounded portion of the body. These maggots eat their way into the necrotic tissue and promote wound healing by consuming the bacteria in the wound. Thus, these creepy looking maggots do prove beneficial to humans. Maggots go through an interesting life cycle to get to the maggot stage. Let's find out more about a maggots' life cycle.

Eggs
Common house flies are lured by garbage, leftover food, animal dung, manure and moist rotting material. These flies lay their eggs in such rotting materials, in clusters of hundreds. The eggs hatch in warm weather within the next 8-20 hours. The minute they hatch, they begin feeding on the material on which they were laid.

First-Instar Larvae
The hatched larvae appear creamy white in color with a length of 2-3 mm. These first-instar larvae feed on the surrounding food material and attain a size of 10mm.

Second-Instar Larvae
Once the larvae attain the 10mm size, they enter the second larval stage. The larvae continue feeding at this stage and molt or shed their skin for the first time.

Third-Instar Larvae
As the larvae continue feeding, they grow to attain a height between 15 mm and 20 mm. These maggots range from a creamy color to a light brown or reddish color. They molt once again.

These three instar stages constitute the main feeding stage of the fly. Maggots are voracious feeders and can feed continuously for 24 hours non-stop. What capacity! It is this eating capacity that maggot therapy takes advantage of!

Some Maggot Facts

Where Do Maggots Live
Since, maggots are voracious feeders, they will only live in areas where there is abundance of rotting food material. The flies know this, which is why they lay their eggs on carcasses, rotting waste material, etc. Then there are the plant maggots, which feed on fruits and leaves.

Can Maggots Live in Water
Water doesn't seem to hinder maggots from growing. You can test this by placing a chunk of stale meat in a plastic cup filled with water. Leave the cup out for flies. Soon flies will lay their eggs in the water and maggots will thrive on the stale piece of meat.

How Long Do Maggots Live
Since maggots are intermediary stages in the life cycle of flies, their life span as maggots is only around 8-10 days, after which they molt into the pupal stage and turn into flies. The second molt occurring in the third-instar larval stage leads the maggot to the pre-pupa stage, after which there's the pupa stage and adult fly stage. However, while considering the maggot's life cycle, we only consider the egg stage to be the third-instar larval stage. The entire maggot life cycle takes 10 days in warm environment and up to a month in cold weather. Thus, maggot's life span is only 8-10 days before it enters the pupal stage.

Though maggots are used in medical treatments of non-healing wounds, maggot infestations are quite dangerous. Maggots of some species feed on live as well as decaying material and can be quite deleterious. The screw worm fly is an example of flesh eating maggots, wherein the flies lay eggs on the edges of wounds or mucus membranes of body openings. When these maggots hatch, they eat their way into the body, causing severe tissue damage and even death. Hope this article on maggot life cycle was informative!