Parts of a Fly – Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Wings and Legs

All 12 parts on the diagram

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The fly 7

Head The front section. It carries the eyes, antennae and mouth.
Compound eyes Two large eyes at the sides of the head.
Thorax The middle section. It carries the wings and the six legs.
Abdomen The rear section of the body, in segments.
Wings One pair only. Most other insects have two pairs.
Legs Six legs. Each ends in two claws and two pads.
Halteres Knobbed stubs in place of hind wings. They keep the fly steady.

Head and foot 5

Antenna One of a short pair. The arista grows from it.
Arista A bristle on the last segment of each antenna.
Proboscis A fleshy tube that sponges up liquid food.
Claws A pair of claws on the end of each leg.
Foot pads (pulvilli) Two sticky pads that let a fly walk up walls.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two of these use it: (1) North Carolina State University, ENT 425 General Entomology, Diptera, https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/order-diptera/ (one pair of wings, the hind wings reduced to halteres, aristate antennae, a proboscis adapted for sponging, the enlarged middle of the thorax), with its page on insect legs, https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/bug-bytes/thorax/legs/ (claws; pulvilli, a pair of adhesive pads); (2) Wikipedia, Housefly, Fly and Halteres, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housefly and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly (the head, a pair of short antennae, the six legs, compound eyes, thorax, abdomen, the single pair of wings, halteres, the proboscis and its spongy tip, claws and the adhesive pads called pulvilli); (3) J. H. Comstock, A Manual for the Study of Insects, the chapter on Diptera, https://archive.org/details/rnanualforstudyof00coms_0 (two wings on the mesothorax, the knobbed halteres, the arista on the antenna, tarsal claws and pulvilli). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no photograph or plate followed. Licence: own work

How it works

The body parts of a fly are a head with two large eyes, a thorax with six legs, one pair of wings and two halteres, and an abdomen. The second drawing shows the head and one foot close up.

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From above, then the head and a foot

Numbers 1 to 7 are on the whole fly: the head, the compound eyes, the thorax, the abdomen, the wings, the legs and the halteres just behind the wings. Numbers 8 to 10 are on the head from the side: the antenna, the arista, a bristle that grows from it, and the proboscis, the mouth tube. Numbers 11 and 12 are at the end of a leg: the two claws and the two foot pads under them.

Count the wings. A fly has one pair; a bee, a wasp or a dragonfly has two pairs.
Halteres stand where the hind wings would be.

Questions and answers

How many wings does a fly have?

Two, which is one pair. Where other insects have hind wings, a fly has two small knobbed stubs called halteres.

What are halteres?

A pair of small, club-shaped organs behind the wings of a fly. They are the hind wings in a reduced form, and they help the fly keep its balance in flight.

How does a fly walk on walls and ceilings?

Each leg ends in a pair of claws with two sticky pads, called pulvilli, under them. The claws and pads let the fly cling to smooth surfaces.

How does a house fly eat?

With its proboscis, a fleshy tube it lets down from under the head. The tip is like a sponge, and the fly sponges up liquid food with it.