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Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper
Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, as Canadian soldiers in the American
Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canada, Canadian–United States, American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York (state), New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania ...
, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are
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 ...
s belonging to the
order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
Ephemeroptera. This order is part of an ancient group of insects termed the
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 Neopte ...
, which also contains
dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threaten ...
and
damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...
. Over 3,000
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of mayfly are known worldwide, grouped into over 400
genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...
in 42 families. Mayflies have ancestral traits that were probably present in the first flying insects, such as long tails and
wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...
s that do not fold flat over the
abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the tors ...
. Their immature stages are aquatic
fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...
forms (called "naiads" or "
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 ty ...
"), 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 In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the fi ...
. Mayflies "hatch" (emerge as adults) from spring to autumn, not necessarily in May, in enormous numbers. Some hatches attract tourists.
Fly fishermen 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 diff ...
make use of mayfly hatches by choosing artificial fishing flies that resemble them. One of the most famous English mayflies is ''
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 Unite ...
'', the fisherman's "March brown mayfly". The brief lives of mayfly adults have been noted by naturalists and encyclopaedists since
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...
and
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ...
in
classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...
. The German engraver Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his 1495 engraving '' The Holy Family with the Mayfly'' to suggest a link between heaven and earth. The English poet George Crabbe compared the brief life of a daily newspaper with that of a mayfly in the satirical poem "The Newspaper" (1785), both being known as "ephemera".


Description


Nymph

Immature mayflies are aquatic and are referred to as nymphs or naiads. In contrast to their short lives as adults, they may live for several years in the water. They have an elongated, cylindrical or somewhat flattened body that passes through a number of
instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow o ...
s (stages), molting and increasing in size each time. When ready to emerge from the water, nymphs vary in length, depending on species, from . The
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...
has a tough outer covering of
sclerotin Sclerotin is a component of the cuticle of various Arthropoda, most familiarly insects. It is formed by cross-linking members of particular classes of protein molecules, a biochemical process called sclerotization, a form of tanning in which quin ...
, often with various hard ridges and projections; it points either forwards or downwards, with the mouth at the front. There are two large
compound eyes A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...
, three
ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-le ...
(simple eyes) and a pair of antennae of variable lengths, set between or in front of the eyes. The mouthparts are designed for chewing and consist of a flap-like labrum, a pair of strong mandibles, a pair of
maxillae The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The tw ...
, a membranous hypopharynx and a labium. The
thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the ...
consists of three segments – the hindmost two, the mesothorax and metathorax, being fused. Each segment bears a pair of legs which usually terminate in a single claw. The legs are robust and often clad in bristles, hairs or spines. Wing pads develop on the mesothorax, and in some species, hindwing pads develop on the metathorax. The
abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the tors ...
consists of ten segments, some of which may be obscured by a large pair of
operculate The operculum (; ) is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure like a trapdoor that exists in many (but not all) groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails; the structure is found in some marine an ...
gills, a thoracic shield (expanded part of the
prothorax The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...
) or the developing wing pads. In most
taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
up to seven pairs of
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 ar ...
s arise from the top or sides of the abdomen, but in some species they are under the abdomen, and in a very few species the gills are instead located on the coxae of the legs, or the bases of the maxillae. The abdomen terminates in slender thread-like projections, consisting of a pair of cerci, with or without a third central caudal filament.


Subimago

The final moult of the nymph is not to the full adult form, but to a winged stage called a subimago that physically resembles the adult, but which is usually sexually immature and duller in colour. The subimago, or dun, often has partially cloudy wings fringed with minute hairs known as microtrichia; its eyes, legs and
genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, ...
are not fully developed. Females of some mayflies (subfamily Palingeniinae) do not moult from a subimago state into an adult stage and are sexually mature while appearing like a subimago with microtrichia on the wing membrance. Oligoneuriine mayflies form another exception in retaining microtrichia on their wings but not on their bodies. Subimagos are generally poor fliers, have shorter appendages, and typically lack the colour patterns used to attract mates. In males of ''
Ephoron leukon ''Ephoron leukon'', the white fly, is a species of pale burrower mayfly in the family Polymitarcyidae Polymitarcyidae is a family of pale burrower mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera. There are about 10 genera and more than 90 described speci ...
'', the subimagos have forelegs that are short and compressed, with accordion like folds, and expands to more than double its length after moulting. After a period, usually lasting one or two days but in some species only a few minutes, the subimago moults to the full adult form, making mayflies the only insects where a winged form undergoes a further moult.


Imago

Adult mayflies, or
imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the fi ...
s, are relatively primitive in structure, exhibiting traits that were probably present in the first flying insects. These include long tails and wings that do not fold flat over the abdomen. Mayflies are delicate-looking insects with one or two pairs of membranous, triangular wings, which are extensively covered with
veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated ...
. At rest, the wings are held upright, like those of a
butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...
. The hind wings are much smaller than the forewings and may be
vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...
or absent. The second segment of the
thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the ...
, which bears the forewings, is enlarged to hold the main flight muscles. Adults have short, flexible antennae, large compound eyes, three ocelli and non-functional mouthparts. In most species, the males' eyes are large and the front legs unusually long, for use in locating and grasping females during the mid-air mating. In the males of some families, there are two large cylindrical "turban" eyes (also known as ''turbanate'' or ''turbinate'' eyes) that face upwards in addition to the lateral eyes. They are capable of detecting ultraviolet light and are thought to be used during courtship to detect females flying above them. In some species all the legs are functionless, apart from the front pair in males. The abdomen is long and roughly cylindrical, with ten segments and two or three long cerci (tail-like appendages) at the tip. Like
Entognatha The Entognatha are a class of wingless and ametabolous arthropods, which, together with the insects, makes up the subphylum Hexapoda. Their mouthparts are entognathous, meaning that they are retracted within the head, unlike the insects. Entog ...
,
Archaeognatha The Archaeognatha are an order of apterygotes, known by various common names such as jumping bristletails. Among extant insect taxa they are some of the most evolutionarily primitive; they appeared in the Middle Devonian period at about the same ...
and Zygentoma, the spiracles on the abdomen don't have closing muscles. Uniquely among insects, mayflies possess paired genitalia, with the male having two aedeagi (penis-like organs) and the female two
gonopore A gonopore, sometimes called a gonadopore, is a genital pore in many invertebrates. Hexapods, including insects have a single common gonopore, except mayflies, which have a pair of gonopores. More specifically, in the unmodified female it is the ...
s (sexual openings).


Biology


Reproduction and life cycle

Mayflies are
hemimetabolous Hemimetabolism or hemimetaboly, also called incomplete metamorphosis and paurometabolism,McGavin, George C. ''Essential Entomology: An Order-by-Order Introduction''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. pp. 20. is the mode of development of cert ...
(they have "incomplete metamorphosis"). They are unique among insects in that they moult one more time after acquiring functional wings; this last-but-one winged (
alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form o ...
) instar usually lives a very short time and is known as a subimago, or to fly fishermen as a dun. Mayflies at the subimago stage are a favourite food of many fish, and many fishing flies are modelled to resemble them. The subimago stage does not survive for long, rarely for more than 24 hours. In some species, it may last for just a few minutes, while the mayflies in the family Palingeniidae have sexually mature subimagos and no true adult form at all. Often, all the individuals in a population mature at once (a hatch), and for a day or two in the spring or autumn, mayflies are extremely abundant, dancing around each other in large groups, or resting on every available surface. In many species the emergence is synchronised with dawn or dusk, and light intensity seems to be an important cue for emergence, but other factors may also be involved. ''
Baetis intercalaris ''Baetis intercalaris'' is a species of small minnow mayfly in the family Baetidae Baetidae is a family of mayfly, mayflies with about 1000 described species in 110 genera distributed worldwide. These are among the smallest of mayflies, adult ...
'', for example, usually emerges just after sunset in July and August, but in one year, a large hatch was observed at midday in June. The soft-bodied subimagos are very attractive to predators. Synchronous emergence is probably an adaptive strategy that reduces the individual's risk of being eaten. The lifespan of an adult mayfly is very short, varying with the species. The primary function of the adult is reproduction; adults do not feed and have only vestigial
mouthparts Mouthparts may refer to: * The parts of a mouth ** Arthropod mouthparts *** Insect mouthparts {{disambig ...
, while their digestive systems are filled with air. ''
Dolania americana ''Dolania'' is a monotypic genus of mayfly in the family Behningiidae containing the single species ''Dolania americana''. It is found in the southeastern United States, as far south as Florida, and is generally uncommon. The adult insects emer ...
'' has the shortest adult lifespan of any mayfly: the adult females of the species live for less than five minutes. Male adults may patrol individually, but most congregate in swarms a few metres above water with clear open sky above it, and perform a nuptial or courtship dance. Each insect has a characteristic up-and-down pattern of movement; strong wingbeats propel it upwards and forwards with the tail sloping down; when it stops moving its wings, it falls passively with the abdomen tilted upwards. Females fly into these swarms, and mating takes place in the air. A rising male clasps the thorax of a female from below using his front legs bent upwards, and inseminates her. Copulation may last just a few seconds, but occasionally a pair remains in tandem and flutters to the ground. Males may spend the night in vegetation and return to their dance the following day. Although they do not feed, some briefly touch the surface to drink a little water before flying off. Females typically lay between four hundred and three thousand eggs. The eggs are often dropped onto the surface of the water; sometimes the female deposits them by dipping the tip of her abdomen into the water during flight, releasing a small batch of eggs each time, or deposits them in bulk while standing next to the water. In a few species, the female submerges and places the eggs among plants or in crevices underwater, but in general, they sink to the bottom. The incubation time is variable, depending at least in part on temperature, and may be anything from a few days to nearly a year. Eggs can go into a quiet dormant phase or
diapause In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions.Tauber, M.J., Tauber, C.A., Masaki, S. (1986) ''Seasonal Adaptations of Insects''. Oxford University Press It ...
. The
larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...
l growth rate is also temperature-dependent, as is the number of moults. At anywhere between ten and fifty, these post-embryonic moults are more numerous in mayflies than in most other insect orders. The nymphal stage of mayflies may last from several months to several years, depending on species and environmental conditions. Around half of all mayfly species whose reproductive biology has been described are
parthenogenetic Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and developmen ...
(able to asexually reproduce), including both partially and exclusively parthogenetic populations and species. Many species breed in moving water, where there is a tendency for the eggs and nymphs to get washed downstream. To counteract this, females may fly upriver before depositing their eggs. For example, the female Tisza mayfly, the largest European species with a length of , flies up to upstream before depositing eggs on the water surface. These sink to the bottom and hatch after 45 days, the nymphs
burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of s ...
ing their way into the sediment where they spend two or three years before hatching into subimagos. When ready to emerge, several different strategies are used. In some species, the transformation of the nymph occurs underwater and the subimago swims to the surface and launches itself into the air. In other species, the nymph rises to the surface, bursts out of its skin, remains quiescent for a minute or two resting on the
exuvia In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans and arachnids) have moulted. The exuviae of an animal can be important to biologists as they can often be ...
e (cast skin) and then flies upwards, and in some, the nymph climbs out of the water before transforming.


Ecology

Nymphs live primarily in streams under rocks, in decaying vegetation or in sediments. Few species live in lakes, but they are among the most prolific. For example, the emergence of one species of ''Hexagenia'' was recorded on
Doppler weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...
by the shoreline of
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...
in 2003. In the nymphs of most mayfly species, the paddle-like gills do not function as respiratory surfaces because sufficient oxygen is absorbed through the integument, instead serving to create a respiratory current. However, in low-oxygen environments such as the mud at the bottom of ponds in which '' Ephemera vulgata'' burrows, the filamentous gills act as true accessory respiratory organs and are used in gaseous exchange. In most species, the nymphs are
herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthp ...
s or
detritivore Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrate ...
s, feeding on
algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...
, diatoms or
detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commu ...
, but in a few species, they are predators of
chironomid The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species ...
and other small insect larvae and nymphs. Nymphs of ''Povilla'' burrow into submerged wood and can be a problem for boat owners in Asia. Some are able to shift from one feeding group to another as they grow, thus enabling them to utilise a variety of food resources. They process a great quantity of organic matter as nymphs and transfer a lot of phosphates and nitrates to terrestrial environments when they emerge from the water, thus helping to remove pollutants from aqueous systems. Along with
caddisfly The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the ...
larvae and gastropod molluscs, the grazing of mayfly nymphs has a significant impact on the primary producers, the plants and algae, on the bed of streams and rivers. The nymphs are eaten by a wide range of predators and form an important part of the aquatic
food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), d ...
. Fish are among the main predators, picking nymphs off the bottom or ingesting them in the water column, and feeding on emerging nymphs and adults on the water surface. Carnivorous
stonefly Plecoptera is an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the mos ...
,
caddisfly The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the ...
,
alderfly Alderflies are megalopteran insects of the family Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies – about 66 species all together – are part of the su ...
and
dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...
larvae feed on bottom-dwelling mayfly nymphs, as do aquatic beetles, leeches, crayfish and amphibians. Besides the direct mortality caused by these predators, the behaviour of their potential prey is also affected, with the nymphs' growth rate being slowed by the need to hide rather than feed. The nymphs are highly susceptible to
pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
and can be useful in the
biomonitoring In analytical chemistry, biomonitoring is the measurement of the body burden of toxic chemical compounds, elements, or their metabolites, in biological substances. Often, these measurements are done in blood and urine. Biomonitoring is performed ...
of water bodies. Once they have emerged, large numbers are preyed on by birds, bats and by other insects, such as Rhamphomyia longicauda. Mayfly nymphs may serve as hosts for
parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...
s such as nematodes and
trematodes Trematoda is a class of flatworms known as flukes. They are obligate internal parasites with a complex life cycle requiring at least two hosts. The intermediate host, in which asexual reproduction occurs, is usually a snail. The definitive ...
. Some of these affect the nymphs' behaviour in such a way that they become more likely to be predated. Other nematodes turn adult male mayflies into quasi-females which haunt the edges of streams, enabling the parasites to break their way out into the aqueous environment they need to complete their life cycles. The nymphs can also serve as
intermediate hosts In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include a ...
for the horsehair worm ''
Paragordius varius ''Paragordius varius'' is a parasite species in the horsehair worm group (Nematomorpha). They cycle between terrestrial and aquatic habitats and are most commonly known for their ability to manipulate their definitive host to jump into a pool of ...
'', which causes its
definitive host In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include a ...
, a grasshopper, to jump into water and drown.


Effects on ecosystem functioning

Mayflies are involved in both
primary production In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...
and
bioturbation Bioturbation is defined as the reworking of soils and sediments by animals or plants. It includes burrowing, ingestion, and defecation of sediment grains. Bioturbating activities have a profound effect on the environment and are thought to be a pr ...
. A study in laboratory simulated streams revealed that the mayfly genus '' Centroptilum'' increased the export of
periphyton Periphyton is a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. The related term Aufwuchs (German "surface growth" or "overgrowth") refers to the co ...
, thus indirectly affecting primary production positively, which is an essential process for ecosystems. The mayfly can also reallocate and alter the nutrient availability in aquatic habitats through the process of bioturbation. By burrowing in the bottom of lakes and redistributing nutrients, mayflies indirectly regulate phytoplankton and epibenthic primary production. Once burrowing to the bottom of the lake, mayfly nymphs begin to billow their respiratory gills. This motion creates current that carries food particles through the burrow and allows the nymph to filter feed. Other mayfly nymphs possess elaborate filter feeding mechanisms like that of the genus ''Isonychia''. The nymph have forelegs that contain long bristle-like structures that have two rows of hairs. Interlocking hairs form the filter by which the insect traps food particles. The action of filter feeding has a small impact on water purification but an even larger impact on the convergence of small particulate matter into matter of a more complex form that goes on to benefit consumers later in the food chain.


Distribution

Mayflies are distributed all over the world in clean freshwater habitats, though absent from Antarctica. They tend to be absent from oceanic islands or represented by one or two species that have dispersed from nearby mainland. Female mayflies may be dispersed by wind, and eggs may be transferred by adhesion to the legs of waterbirds. The greatest generic diversity is found in the
Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...
, while the
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 regi ...
has a smaller number of genera but a high degree of speciation. Some thirteen families are restricted to a single
bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use th ...
. The main families have some general habitat preferences: the Baetidae favour warm water; the Heptageniidae live under stones and prefer fast-flowing water; and the relatively large Ephemeridae make burrows in sandy lake or river beds.


Conservation

The nymph is the dominant life history stage of the mayfly. Different insect species vary in their tolerance to water pollution, but in general, the larval stages of mayflies, stoneflies (Plecoptera) and caddis flies (Trichoptera) are susceptible to a number of pollutants including
sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...
, pesticides and industrial effluent. In general, mayflies are particularly sensitive to acidification, but tolerances vary, and certain species are exceptionally tolerant to heavy metal contamination and to low pH levels.
Ephemerellidae Ephemerellidae are known as the spiny crawler mayflies. They are a family of the order Ephemeroptera. There are eight genera consisting of a total 90 species (Merritt & Cummins). They are distributed throughout North America as well as the UK. T ...
are among the most tolerant groups and
Siphlonuridae Siphlonuridae, also known as the primitive minnow mayfly is a family of insects belonging to the order Ephemeroptera. Taxonomy The family is divided into the following genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biologica ...
and
Caenidae Caenidae, or the small squaregill mayflies, is a family of insects consisting of 5 genera comprising 26 individual species. They are found throughout the world in lotic, depositional environments, and they are sprawlers. Caenids occur in quiet an ...
the least. The adverse effects on the insects of pollution may be either lethal or sub-lethal, in the latter case resulting in altered enzyme function, poor growth, changed behaviour or lack of reproductive success. As important parts of the food chain, pollution can cause knock-on effects to other organisms; a dearth of herbivorous nymphs can cause overgrowth of algae, and a scarcity of predacious nymphs can result in an over-abundance of their prey species. Fish that feed on mayfly nymphs that have bioaccumulated heavy metals are themselves at risk. Adult female mayflies find water by detecting the
polarization Polarization or polarisation may refer to: Mathematics *Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds *Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by ...
of reflected light. They are easily fooled by other polished surfaces which can act as traps for swarming mayflies. The threat to mayflies applies also to their eggs. "Modest levels" of pollution in rivers in England are sufficient to kill 80% of mayfly eggs, which are as vulnerable to pollutants as other life-cycle stages; numbers of the
blue-winged olive mayfly Blue-winged Olive flies is a collective term used by anglers in fly fishing to identify a broad array of mayflies having olive, olive-brown bodies and bluish wings in their adult form. Sometimes referred to as BWO , a wide array of artificial fl ...
(''Baetis'') have fallen dramatically, almost to none in some rivers. The major pollutants thought to be responsible are fine sediment and phosphate from agriculture and sewage. The status of many species of mayflies is unknown because they are known from only the original collection data. Four North American species are believed to be extinct. Among these, '' Pentagenia robusta'' was originally collected from the Ohio River near
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
, but this species has not been seen since its original collection in the 1800s. '' Ephemera compar'' is known from a single specimen, collected from the "foothills of Colorado" in 1873, but despite intensive surveys of the Colorado mayflies reported in 1984, it has not been rediscovered. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...
(IUCN)
red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...
of threatened species includes one mayfly: ''
Tasmanophlebi lacuscoerulei ''Tasmanophlebia lacuscoerulei'' is a species of mayfly in the family Siphlonuridae. It is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. It is known commonly as the large Blue Lake mayfly. This mayfly has a limited distribution in an area of about 80 ...
'', the large blue lake mayfly, which is a native of Australia and is listed as
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
because its alpine habitat is vulnerable to climate change.


Taxonomy and phylogeny

As of 2012, over 3,000 species of mayfly in 42 families and over 400 genera are known worldwide, including about 630 species in North America. Mayflies are an ancient group of winged (pterygote) insects. Putative fossil
stem group In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor ...
representatives (e.g. Syntonopteroidea-like ''Lithoneura lameerrei'') are already known from the late Carboniferous. The name Ephemeroptera is from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ἐφήμερος, ' "short-lived" (literally "lasting a day", cf. English "
ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
"), and πτερόν, ', "
wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...
", referring to the brief lifespan of adults. The English common name is for the insect's emergence in or around the month of May in the UK. The name shadfly is from the Atlantic fish the
shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Pale ...
, numerous stem group representatives of mayflies are known, which are often lumped into a separate taxon Permoplectoptera (e.g. including ''Protereisma permianum'' in the Protereismatidae, and Misthodotidae). The larvae of Permoplectoptera still had 9 pairs of abdominal gills, and the adults still had long hindwings. Maybe the fossil family Cretereismatidae from the
Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́ ...
Crato Formation The Crato Formation is a geologic formation of Early Cretaceous (Aptian) age in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätte (undisturbed fossil accumulation) for palaeontologists. The strata were laid down mostly durin ...
of Brazil also belongs as the last offshoot to Permoplectoptera. The Crato outcrops otherwise yielded fossil specimens of modern mayfly families or the extinct (but modern) family Hexagenitidae. However, from the same locality the strange larvae and adults of the extinct family
Mickoleitiidae Coxoplectoptera or "chimera wings" is an extinct Order (biology), order of stem-group Mayfly, mayflies containing one family, Mickoleitiidae. Two adult and more than 20 nymphal fossils of ''Mickoleitia'' have been scientifically described from Mes ...
(order Coxoplectoptera) have been described, which represents the fossil sister group of modern mayflies, even though they had very peculiar adaptations such as
raptorial The term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the o ...
forelegs. The oldest mayfly inclusion in
amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In M ...
is ''Cretoneta zherichini'' (Leptophlebiidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
. In the much younger
Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...
numerous inclusions of several modern families of mayflies have been found (Ephemeridae, Potamanthidae, Leptophlebiidae, Ametropodidae, Siphlonuridae, Isonychiidae, Heptageniidae, and Ephemerellidae). The modern genus '' Neoephemera'' is represented in the fossil record by the
Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian i ...
species '' N. antiqua'' from
Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...
. Grimaldi and Engel, reviewing the
phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...
in 2005, commented that many
cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...
studies had been made with no stability in Ephemeroptera suborders and infraorders; the traditional division into Schistonota and Pannota was wrong because Pannota is derived from the Schistonota. The phylogeny of the Ephemeroptera was first studied using molecular analysis by Ogden and Whiting in 2005. They recovered the
Baetidae Baetidae is a family of mayflies with about 1000 described species in 110 genera distributed worldwide. These are among the smallest of mayflies, adults rarely exceeding 10 mm in length excluding the two long slender tails and sometimes much ...
as sister to the other clades. Mayfly phylogeny was further studied using morphological and molecular analyses by Ogden and others in 2009. They found that the Asian genus ''Siphluriscus'' was sister to all other mayflies. Some existing lineages such as Ephemeroidea, and families such as Ameletopsidae, were found not to be
monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...
, through convergence among nymphal features. The following traditional classification is based on Peters and Campbell (1991), in ''Insects of Australia''. Suborder Pannota *Superfamily Ephemerelloidea **
Ephemerellidae Ephemerellidae are known as the spiny crawler mayflies. They are a family of the order Ephemeroptera. There are eight genera consisting of a total 90 species (Merritt & Cummins). They are distributed throughout North America as well as the UK. T ...
**
Leptohyphidae Leptohyphidae is a family of mayfly, mayflies with some 140 described species in 12 genera. References

* Mayflies Insect families {{Mayfly-stub ...
**
Tricorythidae Tricorythidae is a family of mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera. There are about six genera and at least 40 described species in Tricorythidae. Genera These six genera belong to the family Tricorythidae: * '' Madecassorythus'' Elouard & Oliari ...
*Superfamily Caenoidea ** Neoephemeridae **
Baetiscidae Baetiscidae is a family of mayflies. It contains a single extant genus, ''Baetisca'', native to North America with around 12 species. The family is noted for their spined armoured larvae, which live in flowing water pools and on the edges of stre ...
**
Caenidae Caenidae, or the small squaregill mayflies, is a family of insects consisting of 5 genera comprising 26 individual species. They are found throughout the world in lotic, depositional environments, and they are sprawlers. Caenids occur in quiet an ...
**
Prosopistomatidae Prosopistomatidae is a family of mayflies. There is one extant genus, '' Prosopistoma,'' with several dozen species found across Afro-Eurasia and Oceania. They are noted for their unusual beetle-shaped larvae, which live beneath rocks and stones ...
Suborder Schistonota *Superfamily Baetoidea **
Siphlonuridae Siphlonuridae, also known as the primitive minnow mayfly is a family of insects belonging to the order Ephemeroptera. Taxonomy The family is divided into the following genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biologica ...
**
Baetidae Baetidae is a family of mayflies with about 1000 described species in 110 genera distributed worldwide. These are among the smallest of mayflies, adults rarely exceeding 10 mm in length excluding the two long slender tails and sometimes much ...
** Oniscigastridae ** Ameletopsidae **
Ametropodidae Ametropodidae is a family of mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera. There are at least three genera and three described species in Ametropodidae. Genera These three genera belong to the family Ametropodidae: * '' Ametropus'' Albarda, 1878 * '' Br ...
*Superfamily Heptagenioidea **
Coloburiscidae Coloburiscidae is a family of mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera, with at least seven species in three genera native to Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. Genera These three genera belong to the family Coloburiscidae: * '' Coloburiscoides'' Le ...
**
Oligoneuriidae Oligoneuriidae is a family of mayflies with a pantropical distribution. They are also known as brushlegged mayflies due to the presence of two rows of setae used for filtration on the front legs of their nymphs. Nymphs also have tufts of gills at ...
** Isonychiidae **
Heptageniidae The Heptageniidae (synonym: Ecdyonuridae) are a family of mayflies with over 500 described species mainly distributed in the Holarctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical regions, and also present in the Central American Tropics and extreme northern So ...
*Superfamily Leptophlebioidea **
Leptophlebiidae Leptophlebiidae is a family belonging to the Ephemeropterans that are commonly known as the prong-gilled mayflies or leptophlebiids. It is the only family in the superfamily Leptophlebioidea. There are around 131 genera and 640 described specie ...
*Superfamily Ephemeroidea **
Behningiidae Behningiidae is a family of mayflies. It is a primitive family; the nymphs burrow in the sediment but lack tusks on their mandibles, and the forelegs are not modified for burrowing. The gills are ventral, and the ones on the first abdominal segme ...
**
Potamanthidae Potamanthidae is a family of 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) a ...
**
Euthyplociidae Euthyplociidae is a family of mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera. There are about 7 genera and more than 20 described species in Euthyplociidae. Genera These seven genera belong to the family Euthyplociidae: * '' Afroplocia'' Lestage, 1939 * ' ...
**
Polymitarcyidae Polymitarcyidae is a family of pale burrower mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera. There are about 10 genera and more than 90 described species in Polymitarcyidae. Genera These 10 genera belong to the family Polymitarcyidae: * '' Asthenopus'' Ea ...
** Ephemeridae ** Palingeniidae


Phylogeny

After


In human culture


In art

The
Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and art an ...
author Augerius Clutius ( Outgert Cluyt) illustrated some mayflies in his 1634 ''De Hemerobio'' ("On the Mayfly"), the earliest book written on the group.
Maerten de Vos Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos (1532 – 4 December 1603)Maerten de Vos
at the
similarly illustrated a mayfly in his 1587 depiction of the fifth day of creation, amongst an assortment of fish and water birds. In 1495 Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his engraving '' The Holy Family with the Mayfly''. The critics
Larry Silver Larry Silver (born 1934) is an American photographer. He was born in the Bronx. While a student at the High School of Industrial Art in Manhattan he met members of the Photo League, among them Lou Bernstein, W. Eugene Smith and Weegee. He won a ...
and Pamela H. Smith argue that the image provides "an explicit link between heaven and earth ... to suggest a cosmic resonance between sacred and profane, celestial and terrestrial, macrocosm and microcosm."


In literature

The
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually speciali ...
and philosopher
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...
wrote in his ''
History of Animals ''History of Animals'' ( grc-gre, Τῶν περὶ τὰ ζῷα ἱστοριῶν, ''Ton peri ta zoia historion'', "Inquiries on Animals"; la, Historia Animalium, "History of Animals") is one of the major texts on biology by the ancient Gr ...
'' that The
Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
encyclopaedist
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ...
described the mayfly as the "hemerobius" in his '' Natural History'': In his 1789 book ''
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne ''The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne'', or just ''The Natural History of Selborne'' is a book by English parson-naturalist Gilbert White (1720–1793). It was first published in 1789 by his brother Benjamin. It has been continu ...
'',
Gilbert White Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''. Life White was born on ...
described in the entry for "June 10th, 1771" how The mayfly has come to symbolise the transitoriness and brevity of life. The English poet George Crabbe, known to have been interested in insects, compared the brief life of a
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...
with that of mayflies, both being known as "Ephemera", things that live for a day: The theme of brief life is echoed in the artist Douglas Florian's 1998 poem, "The Mayfly". The American Poet Laureate
Richard Wilbur Richard Purdy Wilbur (March 1, 1921 – October 14, 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets of his generation, Wilbur's work, composed primarily in traditional forms, was marked by its wit, charm, and gentle ...
's 2005 poem "Mayflies" includes the lines "I saw from unseen pools a mist of flies, In their quadrillions rise, And animate a ragged patch of glow, With sudden glittering". Another literary reference to mayflies is seen in '' The Epic of Gilgamesh'', one of the earliest surviving great works of literature. The briefness of Gilgamesh's life is compared to that of the adult mayfly. In
Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...
, Hungary, mayflies are celebrated in a monument near the Belvárosi bridge, the work of local sculptor Pal Farkas, depicting the courtship dance of mayflies. The American playwright David Ives wrote a short comedic play, ''Time Flies'', in 2001, as to what two mayflies might discuss during their one day of existence.


In fly fishing

Mayflies are the primary source of models for artificial flies, hooks tied with coloured materials such as threads and feathers, used in
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 diff ...
. These are based on different life-cycle stages of mayflies. For example, the flies known as "emergers" in North America are designed by fly fishermen to resemble subimago mayflies, and are intended to lure freshwater
trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...
. In 1983, Patrick McCafferty recorded that artificial flies had been based on 36 genera of North American mayfly, from a total of 63 western species and 103 eastern/central species. A large number of these species have common names among fly fishermen, who need to develop a substantial knowledge of mayfly "habitat, distribution, seasonality, morphology and behavior" in order to match precisely the look and movements of the insects that the local trout are expecting.
Izaak Walton Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'', he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been colle ...
describes the use of mayflies for catching trout in his 1653 book '' The Compleat Angler''; for example, he names the "Green-drake" for use as a natural fly, and "duns" (mayfly subimagos) as artificial flies. These include for example the "Great Dun" and the "Great Blue Dun" in February; the "Whitish Dun" in March; the "Whirling Dun" and the "Yellow Dun" in April; the "Green-drake", the "Little Yellow May-Fly" and the "Grey-Drake" in May; and the "Black-Blue Dun" in July. Nymph or "wet fly" fishing was restored to popularity on the
chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, t ...
s of England by G. E. M. Skues with his 1910 book '' Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream''. In the book, Skues discusses the use of duns to catch trout. The March brown is "probably the most famous of all British mayflies", having been copied by anglers to catch trout for over 500 years. Some English
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
s beside trout streams such as the
River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. Below the villag ...
in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
are named "The Mayfly".


As a spectacle

The hatch of the giant mayfly ''Palingenia longicauda'' on the
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and ...
and Maros Rivers in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
and
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
, known as "Tisza blooming", is a tourist attraction. The 2014 hatch of the large black-brown mayfly '' Hexagenia bilineata'' on the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
in the US was imaged on weather radar; the swarm flew up to 760 m (2,500 feet) above the ground near
La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census ...
, creating a radar signature that resembled a "significant rain storm", and the mass of dead insects covering roads, cars and buildings caused a "slimy mess". During the weekend of 13–14 June 2015, a large swarm of mayflies caused several vehicular accidents on the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge, carrying Pennsylvania Route 462 across the
Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
between
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
and
Wrightsville, Pennsylvania Wrightsville is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,257 at the 2020 census. Wrightsville borough has a police department, historic society, and a volunteer fire company. History According to a plaque at ...
. The bridge had to be closed to traffic twice during that period due to impaired visibility and obstructions posed by piles of dead insects.


As food

Mayflies are consumed in several cultures and are estimated to contain the most raw protein content of any edible insect by dry weight. In
Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...
, kungu, a paste of mayflies (''Caenis kungu'') and mosquitoes is made into a cake for eating. Adult mayflies are collected and eaten in many parts of China and Japan. Near
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
, ''Povilla'' mayflies are collected, dried and preserved for use in food preparations.


As a name for ships and aircraft

"Mayfly" was the crew's nickname for His Majesty's Airship No. 1, an aerial scout airship built by
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...
but wrecked by strong winds in 1911 before her trial flights. Two vessels of the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
were named : a torpedo boat launched in January 1907, and a ''Fly''-class river gunboat constructed in sections at Yarrow in 1915. The Seddon Mayfly, which was constructed in 1908, was an aircraft that was unsuccessful in early flight. The first aircraft designed by a woman, Lillian Bland, was titled the Bland Mayfly.


Other human uses

In pre-1950s France, "chute de manne" was obtained by pressing mayflies into cakes and using them as bird food and fishbait. From an economic standpoint, mayflies also provide fisheries with an excellent diet for fish. Mayflies could find uses in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Their exoskeleton contains
chitin Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...
, which has applications in these industries. Research on genome expression in the mayfly '' Cloeon dipterum,'' has provided ideas on the evolution of the insect wing and giving support to the so-called gill theory which suggests that the ancestral
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 hin ...
may have evolved from larval gills of aquatic insects like mayflies. Mayfly larvae do not survive in polluted aquatic habitats and, thus, have been chosen as bioindicators, markers of water quality in
ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their biophysical environment, physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosy ...
assessments. In marketing, Nike produced a line of running shoes in 2003 titled "Mayfly". The shoes were designed with a wing venation pattern like the mayfly and were also said to have a finite lifetime. The telecommunication company
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
featured mayflies in a 2006 branding campaign, telling consumers to "make the most of now".


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Info about Ephemeroptera
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Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Histo ...

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Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayfly Extant Pennsylvanian first appearances Featured articles Aquatic insects