Diptera: Waiter, There's a Fly on my Forum!

[bmathison1972]

Walk-around of the house fly, Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758 by Kaiyodo, Sticky Tack Insect Set (2016). Ah yes, the common house fly. A cosmopolitan species that everyone is familiar with. Yet, surprisingly I am not familiar with a single other figure specifically attributable to this species!

The figure is 20 mm (not including wings nor appendages), making it roughly 4:1 based on the average adult size of 4-6 mm. It is well-constructed solid piece. The bottom has a plastic receptacle designed to hold 'sticky tack' so the figure can be affixed to vertical surfaces such as walls (as were all figures in the series). This receptacle is removable, easily snapping in and out (I took mine out--see the ventral shot below). The paint job is good, and the wing venation is accurate for the Muscidae (although the venation isnt completely painted black so you can't appreciate the venation in my pics)!!!

On to the images! Sorry for the quality of some; had trouble getting this guy in focus.











lastly I couldn't resist imaging this figure with a couple friends on dog poop (Flies on Dog Poop, by Discovery Kids-Disgusting Facts Kit) 

[Beetle guy]

Great that the receptacles can be removed. I was a bit to cautious with mine ;-)

[bmathison1972]

Great that the receptacles can be removed. I was a bit to cautious with mine ;-)

yeah I was just messing around with them and they popped right off, very safely.

[brontodocus]

Ah, great to see the fly looks as good as I had expected. I would have preferred it to have been a little larger but I'll still get me that set.

[bmathison1972]

I have re-uploaded these images to Postimage.

[bmathison1972]

Walk-around of the house fly, Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758 by Bullyland, originally released in 1994. I believe there were two color forms released. When I reviewed the house fly in the Kaiyodo Sticky Tack Insect set, I thought that was the only figure specifically attributable to this species. However, this Bullyland figure (which I only recently obtained, courtesy of Beatrice) came with papers specifically identifying it as M. domestica. One cannot resist a fly figure attributable to the species level .

The figure is 7.0 cm long (not including legs and wings), making it 10:1 scale. The paint job is relatively conservative. It has nice protruding mouthparts and thick, hard-plastic, clear wings. The wing venation is not accurate for this species (unlike the small Kaiyodo figure which, of course, paid attention to such detail). The name 'housefly' is also stamped into the wings.

On to the pics:













So, years ago (maybe sometime 2001-2004 or so) I purchased three large sets of hard plastic insects at a dollar store in Tempe, Arizona. I was excited to see such variety for so little money. What I did not realize at the time, is that a lot of the larger figures in those sets were rip-offs of Bullyland figures. As I acquired more and more Bullys over the years it became more evident to me. Included are rip-offs of the Bullyland dragonfly, rhinoceros beetle, stag beetle, firefly, lady beetle (elytra closed), grasshopper, and possibly others that currently escape my mind. I still have most of them (unfortunately I misplaced the firefly years ago). Here I show you the fly from that set. Interestingly, it is more detailed than the Bullyland figure. It is a little more elevated, BUT it has the exact same inaccurate wing venation pattern ;-).