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Order Ephemeroptera - Mayflies
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
Other Common Names in angling/flyfishing, an adult mayfly (imago) is called a spinner; the winged pre-adult (subimago) is called a dun; and many species have common names (1)Synonyms and other taxonomic changes The classification/nomenclature in the Guide generally follows Mayfly Central (2)Explanation of Names Greek ephemeros 'of/for a day; short-lived' + pteron 'wing' -- refers to the short-lived adults ["ephemeros" comes from epi 'upon' + hemera 'day']
MAYFLY: adults appear in large numbers in May Numbers 611 spp. in 59 genera of 21 families in our area (3); worldwide, ~3350 spp. in >440 genera of at least 42 families (4)(5)(6); 300 spp. in se. US (7), 204 in the Carolinas (8)(9), 71 in FL (10)
Genera not yet in the Guide are listed in (11)
Overview of our fauna (* –taxa not yet in the guide)
Order Ephemeroptera
Identification Adult ( imago): delicate insects; thorax and abdomen bare, often shiny; front legs often held forward and sometimes upward at rest; hindwings much smaller than forewings (may be absent)
Subimago): wings cloudy in appearance, body dull and pubescent, with appendages somewhat shorter -- but otherwise similar to imago
Nymph (usually called larva in mayflies): body flattened or cylindrical, legs usually long; antennae short; abdomen with lateral gills and 2-3 long thin tail filaments
keys: NA, genera, larvae & adults (12); ne. NA, genera, nymphs (13); Upper Midwest, families, nymphs (14); Florida, nymphs (15)
local guides/keys (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)Range worldwide and throughout NA; for ranges of nearctic spp., see (23)(2)(24)Season some emerge in late April (earlier in the south) but the greatest numbers first appear in May, and adults may be seen until September in the north; later, and perhaps around the year, in the far south Food nymphs feed on pieces of organic matter such as plant material or algae and debris that accumulates on rocks or other substrates in flowing water (predation recorded in some)
adults have no functional mouthparts and do not feed
Life Cycle Adult males usually gather in mid-air swarms 5-15 m above the ground; females fly into the swarm, and mating occurs in flight. Females drop their eggs while flying low over the water, or by dipping the abdomen; some go underwater to lay eggs.
Mayflies are the only insects that molt in winged condition. There may be from several to dozens nymphal instars. Mature nymphs swim to water surface or crawl onto rocks or plants, then molt into winged subimagoes which then molt again into adults (imagoes). Adult lifespan ranges from 1.5 hours to two weeks, most adults live 48-72 hrs.
Remarks Adults and nymphs are an important source of food for fish and other aquatic wildlife. Anglers often use mayflies as bait. See Also stonefly and caddisfly adults hold their wings together horizontally over the abdomen, and hugged closed to the body
stonefly nymphs have filamentous gills (not plate-like), and have just two cerci (never the median filament)
Works Cited | 6. | Global diversity of mayflies (Ephemeroptera, Insecta) in freshwater
Barber-James, H.M., Gattolliat, J.L., Sartori, M. & Hubbard, M.D. 2008. Hydrobiologia, 595: 339–350. | |
| 7. | The mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the southeastern United States
Mccafferty W.P., Lenat D.R., Jacobus L.M., Meyer M.D. 2010. Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 136: 221-233. | |
| 8. | Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of North Carolina and South Carolina: An update
M.L. Pescador, D.R. Lenat, M.D. Hubbard. 1999. Florida Entomologist 82(2): 316-332. | |
| 10. | The Mayflies of Florida: Revised edition
Berner L., Pescador M.L. 1988. University Presses of Florida. 431 pp. | |
| 12. | Aquatic Insects of North America
R. W. Merritt, K. W. Cummins, M.B. Berg. 2008. Kendall/Hunt. | |
| 13. | Freshwater macroinvertebrates of Northeastern North America
Peckarsky, B. L., P. Fraissinet, M. A. Penton, and D. J. Conklin, Jr. 1990. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. | |
| 14. | Guide to aquatic macroinvertebrates of the Upper Midwest
Bouchard R.W., Jr. 2004. Water Resources Center, U. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. 208 pp. | |
| 15. | Guide to the mayfly (Ephemeroptera) nymphs of Florida
Pescador M.L., Richard B.A. 2004. Dept Envir. Prot., Div. Water Resource Management, Tallahassee. 168 pp. | |
| 22. | Aquatic Insects of California
Robert L. Usinger, Editor. 1956. University of California Press. | |
| 25. | Ephemeroptera of South America (Aquatic Biodiversity of Latin America Series, Vol. 2.)
Dominguez E., Molineri C., Pescador M.L., Hubbard M.D., Nieto C. 2006. Pensoft Publishers. 646 pp. | |
| 26. | The mayflies of Europe (Ephemeroptera)
Bauernfeind E., Soldán T. 2012. Brill Academic Publishers. 781 pp. | |
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