Behningiidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

mayflies 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 orde ...

. It is a primitive family; the

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

burrow in the sediment but lack tusks on their mandibles, and the forelegs are not modified for burrowing. The

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

s are ventral, and the ones on the first abdominal segment are single and are longer than the gills on the other segments. The forelegs are palp-like and the other two pairs of legs are modified to protect the gills. The family is

holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region ...

in distribution. The genus ''Dolania'' occurs in North America and the other three genera occur in northern Europe and Asia.

Genera

The family includes the following genera: * †'' Archaeobehningia'' Tshernova, 1977 * '' Behningia'' Lestage, 1930 * '' Dolania'' Edmunds & Traver, 1959 * '' Protobehningia'' Tshernova & Bajkova, 1960

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4345650 Mayflies Insect families