Fly
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For things moving through the air, see flight.
A fly (plural: flies) is a kind of insect.
Scientists use the word fly for all the insects in the order (a group of similar animals) Diptera. Flies have only two wings; most other insects have four wings. A few flies have no wings at all and cannot fly.
[edit] Kinds of flies
There are many different kinds of flies. Scientists have named 85,000 kinds (species). Houseflies are grey or black and can be found wherever people are. Horse flies and deer flies can bite people and animals. Fruit flies can be found near fruit that is too ripe. Hoverflies look like small wasps, but they have no sting.
Some flies do not have the word fly in their name, so some people do not know they are flies. Mosquitoes are flies that bite people and can carry diseases, such as malaria. Midges are flies that look like mosquitoes, but some midges do not bite. Gnats are small flies that sometimes are in big groups called swarms.
[edit] These are not flies...
Some insects have the word fly in their names, but they are not flies at all.
Fireflies are a kind of beetle that can make light.
Dragonflies and damselflies are from the order Odonata and are not real flies.
Butterflies are not flies. They belong in the order Lepidoptera, along with moths.
