Life Cycle of the Shore Fly
A shore fly goes through six stages in its life: the egg stage, three larval stages, a pupal stage and the adult stage. An adult shore fly is about 5 mm long, dark in color and has gray-brown mottled wings. It has short legs, antennae and prominent eyes. The adult bank fly is often confused with the sciarid fly, but both insects cause different damage. It is otherwise more sturdily built than the sciarid fly and has shorter antennae.
The adult shore fly lays bean-shaped eggs. The larvae that hatch from them are translucent to white in color. In the next stage, they are less translucent and turn brown. Pupation occurs in the upper soil layer.