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Mayfly
Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order Ephemeroptera. This order is part of an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies. Over 3,000 species of mayfly are known worldwide, grouped into over 400 genera in 42 families. Mayflies have ancestral traits that were probably present in the first flying insects, such as long tails and wings that do not fold flat over the abdomen. Their immature stages are aquatic fresh water forms (called "naiads" or "nymphs"), whose presence indicates a clean, unpolluted and highly oxygenated aquatic environment. They are unique among insect orders in having a fully winged terrestrial preadult stage, the subimago, which moults into a sexually mature adult, the imago. Mayflies "hatch" (emerge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect Wing
Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments. The wings are strengthened by a number of longitudinal veins, which often have cross-connections that form closed "cells" in the membrane (extreme examples include the dragonflies and lacewings). The patterns resulting from the fusion and cross-connection of the wing veins are often diagnostic for different evolutionary lineages and can be used for identification to the family or even genus level in many orders of insects. Physically, some insects move their flight muscles directly, others indirectly. In insects with direct flight, the wing muscles directly attach to the wing base, so that a small downward movement of the wing base lifts the wing itself upward. Those i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cloeon Dipterum
''Cloeon dipterum'' is a species of mayfly with a Holarctic distribution. It is the most common mayfly in ponds in the British Isles and the only ovoviviparity, ovoviviparous mayfly in Europe. Males differ from females in having turbinate eyes. Description In common with other members of the genera ''Cloeon'' and ''Procloeon'', ''C. dipterum'' has a single pair of wings. This is also reflected in the specific name (zoology), specific epithet ''dipterum'', which is from the Latin ', meaning two, and the Greek ', meaning insect wing, wing, and in his alpha taxonomy, original description, Carl Linnaeus stated ' ("smaller wings hardly present"). The compound eyes of ''C. dipterum'' show a striking sexual dimorphism, whereby females have lateral apposition eyes, while the males' eyes have an additional dorsal "turban-shaped" parts that function as superposition eyes. These extra eyes are thought to enable the males to locate isolated females in the mating swarm. Ecology and life cyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhithrogena Germanica
''Rhithrogena germanica'' is a European species of mayfly, and is "probably the most famous of all British mayflies", because of its use in fly fishing. It is known in the British Isles as the March brown mayfly, a name which is used in the United States for a different species, '' Rhithrogena morrisoni''. It emerges as a subimago at the end of winter, and can be distinguished from similar species by a dark spot on the femur of each leg. Description Adults and subimagos of ''Rhithrogena'' species have two long tails, and readily visible hind wings. ''R. germanica'' can only be distinguished from related species such as '' R. semicolorata'' (the only other '' Rhithrogena'' species in the United Kingdom) by the presence of a dark spot on the femora of the legs. A similar species, ''Ecdyonurus venosus'' (the ''late March brown'' or ''false March brown'') is more widespread in Great Britain, but emerges later in the year than ''R. germanica''. Distribution ''Rhithrogena germanica'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptophlebia Marginata
''Leptophlebia marginata'', the sepia dun, is a species of mayfly in the family Leptophlebiidae. It is native to Europe and North America where it is distributed widely near lakes, ponds and slow-moving streams. The larvae, which are known as nymphs, are aquatic. Distribution and habitat ''Leptophlebia marginata'' occurs in the holarctic region, in Europe and North America, including both temperate and Arctic habitats. It is associated with the edges of lakes and ponds, and the backwaters of slow-moving rivers and streams. Ecology Adult ''Leptophlebia marginata'' emerge from the aquatic nymph's final moult during daytime in early summer. The final instar nymph crawls to the surface of the water, or climbs onto an emergent plant stem, a stick or a rock, its skin splits and it emerges as a winged adult. The males fly in swarms during the day. Fertilized females have about 1200 eggs and fly over the water, dipping the tips of their abdomens in the water to lay small batches of eggs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fly Fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting. The flies may resemble natural invertebrates, bait-fish, or other food organisms. Fly fishing can be done in fresh or saltwater. North Americans usually distinguish freshwater fishing between cold-water species (trout, salmon) and warm-water species, notably bass. In Britain, where natural water temperatures vary less, the distinction is between game fishing for trout and salmon versus coarse fishing for other species. Techniques for fly fishing differ with habitat (lakes and ponds, small streams, large rivers, bays and estuaries, and open ocean.) Author Izaak Walton called fly fishing "The Contemplative Man's Recreation". Overview In fly fishing, fish are caught by using artificial flies that ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Holy Family With The Mayfly
''The Holy Family with the Dragonfly'', also known as ''The Holy Family with the Mayfly'', ''The Holy Family with the Locust'', and ''The Holy Family with the Butterfly'' is an engraving by the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) from approximately 1495. It is quite small but full of intricate detail. A very popular image, copied by other printmakers within five years of creation, it is found in most major print room collections, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the UK Royal Collection. Description ''The Holy Family with the Dragonfly'', alternately known as ''The Holy Family with the Butterfly'', ''The Holy Family with the Locust'', and ''The Virgin with the Dragonfly'', is an early engraving by Dürer. It depicts both the Holy Family and the Holy Trinity, as the Virgin Mary sits on a bench holding Jesus with Joseph beside them, while God the Father and the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove look down from the clouds. In the lower right corner is an insect fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fly Fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting. The flies may resemble natural invertebrates, bait-fish, or other food organisms. Fly fishing can be done in fresh or saltwater. North Americans usually distinguish freshwater fishing between cold-water species (trout, salmon) and warm-water species, notably bass. In Britain, where natural water temperatures vary less, the distinction is between game fishing for trout and salmon versus coarse fishing for other species. Techniques for fly fishing differ with habitat (lakes and ponds, small streams, large rivers, bays and estuaries, and open ocean.) Author Izaak Walton called fly fishing "The Contemplative Man's Recreation". Overview In fly fishing, fish are caught by using artificial flies that ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect Morphology
Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insects from other arthropods: they have a body divided into three regions (called tagmata) (head, thorax, and abdomen), have three pairs of legs, and mouthparts located ''outside'' of the head capsule. It is this position of the mouthparts which divides them from their closest relatives, the non-insect hexapods, which includes Protura, Diplura, and Collembola. There is enormous variation in body structure amongst insect species. Individuals can range from 0.3 mm (fairyflies) to 30 cm across ( great owlet moth); have no eyes or many; well-developed wings or none; and legs modified for running, jumping, swimming, or even digging. These modifications allow insects to occupy almost every ecological niche on the planet, except the deep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeoptera
The name Palaeoptera (from Greek ( 'old') + ( 'wing')) has been traditionally applied to those ancestral groups of winged insects (most of them extinct) that lacked the ability to fold the wings back over the abdomen as characterizes the Neoptera. The Diaphanopterodea, which are palaeopteran insects, had independently and uniquely convergent evolution, evolved a different wing-folding mechanism. Both mayfly, mayflies and dragonfly, dragonflies lack any of the smell centers in their brain found in Neoptera. Disputed status The complexities of the wing-folding mechanism, as well as the mechanical operation of the wings in flight (insect flight, indirect flight muscles), are such that it clearly indicates the Neoptera are a monophyletic lineage. The problem is that the plesiomorphic absence of wing-folding does not necessarily mean the Palaeoptera form a natural group – they may simply be an assemblage containing all insects, closely related or not, that "are not Neoptera", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nymph (biology)
In biology, a nymph is the immature form of some invertebrates, particularly insects, which undergoes gradual metamorphosis (hemimetabolism) before reaching its adult stage. Unlike a typical larva, a nymph's overall form already resembles that of the adult, except for a lack of wings (in winged species). In addition, while a nymph moults, it never enters a pupal stage. Instead, the final moult results in an adult insect. Nymphs undergo multiple stages of development called instars. This is the case, for example, in Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers and locusts), Hemiptera (cicadas, shield bugs, whiteflies, aphids, leafhoppers, froghoppers, treehoppers etc.), mayflies, termites, cockroaches, mantises, stoneflies and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). Nymphs of aquatic insects, as in the Odonata, Ephemeroptera, and Plecoptera, are also called naiads, an Ancient Greek name for mythological water nymphs. Usage of the term 'naiad' is no longer popular among entomologists, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moulting
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer layer or covering), either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in its life cycle. In medieval times it was also known as "mewing" (from the French verb "muer", to moult), a term that lives on in the name of Britain's Royal Mews where the King's hawks used to be kept during moulting time before becoming horse stables after Tudor times. Moulting can involve shedding the Epidermis (skin), epidermis (skin), pelage (hair, feathers, fur, wool), or other external layer. In some groups, other body parts may be shed, for example, the entire exoskeleton in arthropods, including the wings in some insects. Examples In birds In birds, moulting is the periodic replacement of feathers by shedding old feathers while producing new o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquatic Insect
Aquatic insects or water insects live some portion of their life cycle in the water. They feed in the same ways as other insects. Some ''diving'' insects, such as predatory diving beetles, can hunt for food underwater where land-living insects cannot compete. Breathing One problem that aquatic insects must overcome is how to get oxygen while they are under water. Almost all animals require a source of oxygen to live. Insects draw air into their bodies through spiracles, holes found along the sides of the abdomen. These spiracles are connected to tracheal tubes where oxygen can be absorbed. All aquatic insects have become adapted to their environment with the specialization of these structures ;Aquatic adaptations # Simple diffusion over a relatively thin integument # Temporary use of an air bubble # Extraction of oxygen from water using a plastron or blood gill # Storage of oxygen in hemoglobin molecules in hemolymph # Taking oxygen from surface via breathing tubes ( siph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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