Life Cycle
The fungus gnat has four stages of life
- The adult female lays her eggs and the larvae hatch about three weeks later.
- The larvae grow over a period of six to nine months until they reach 3-4 centimeters in length. The larvae then hang from a damp surface hidden away from predators. It hangs horizontal surrounded by silk and mucus that flexes with its body. When it finally matures it becomes a pupa.
- The pupa stage is more of a cocoon stage where it hangs from a vertical thread for about fourteen days until it breaks through the cocoon as an adult fly.
- Once the adult emerges its main priority is to mate. The adult doses not eat and only lives a few days. The female only lay’s about 100 eggs before she dies (Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2013).