BIOL 286

Lecture 15
ORDER EPHEMEROPTERA
 ORDER EPHEMEROPTERA
Common Name: MAYFLIES

CHARACTERISTICS
• Simple metamorphosis
Eggs – nymphs – adults
Nymphs live in fresh water.
Adults are terrestrial.

• Chewing mouthparts.
 ADULTS
• With 2 pairs of membranous wings
• Wings are triangular, large, with heavy
venation.
• Adults cannot fold their wings at rest
instead wings are held together over body.
• Adults have 2 or 3 caudal tails.
• Their mouthparts are vestigial
 don’t feed as adults.
• Adults are short-lived: 1-2 days, spent
in airborne search for mates.
• Found near ponds, streams…
 NYMPHS
• The nymphs are aquatic (ponds and streams).
• With 3 (or sometimes 2) caudal long tails.
• With chewing mouthparts
• Nymphs feed on algae and detritus.
• Gas exchange occurs through abdominal
tracheal gills (leaflike gills).
 LIFE CYCLE
• Eggs in the water hatch into nymphs.
• Aquatic nymphs live in the water,
feeding on algae and detritus.
• They take 1-3 years to develop.
• They pass into many nymphal instars
(15-22 molts).
• When mature, the nymph crawls out of
the water (to nearby vegetation) or floats
to the surface and molts into a winged
subimago stage.
• The subimago is a sexually immature stage with fully
functional wings.
• This stage is unique to the Ephemeroptera.
• Mayflies are the only winged insects that molt again after
the wings become functional.
• The subimago must undergo 1 or more molts to reach the
adult (imago) stage.
This usually happens within a day after it emerges as
subimago.
• Adults are very short lived! (1-2 days)
• They do not feed.
• They spend their short time in search
for mates and reproduction.
 Courtship and Mating
• To attract females, males form swarms.
• They perform spectacular aerial dances
• Flying upwards and slowly parachuting
downward (helped by the long tails).
• Females enter the swarm.
• Males have very good vision
• The upper facets of their compound eyes
are large and adapted for dorsal vision.
• Hence, they have high acuity for seeing
females flying above them.
• A male locates a female
• He seizes her using his elongate
forelegs round her thorax
• Locking his tarsal claws near her
wing base.
• Copulation occurs during flight.
 OVIPOSITION
 Oviposition occurs shortly after mating; death
follows.
 Various methods of egg-laying depending on species:
1. some female drop eggs from air in large or small
packets in the water
2. some tap their abdomen in water, releasing eggs
3. a few crawl under water and lay eggs attached on
vegetation (algae)
4. a few just fall in the water and expel all their eggs
(then die).
5. a few lay eggs in dry intermittent ponds or streams;
eggs are coated with gelatin and get activated
when water returns to streams.
Summary of mayflies’ life cycle
 Biological Importance of mayflies
 Mayflies form important links in the food chain of
many aquatic systems:
• They are food for fish (all stages)
• They are also eaten by birds, amphibians, frogs,
spiders…
 Mayflies can give a valuable measure of pollution:
• Many species are very sensitive to lack of oxygen and
acidity in the water.
• Acid rain has eliminated mayflies from many streams
and ponds in Europe and North America.
• Consequently, there was a tremendous decrease in
the fish population (as nymphs are important diet for
fish).
 Mayfly nymphs remove nitrogen and phosphate pollutants from
the aquatic systems:
• Over enrichment of fresh water systems by N and P causes algal
bloom and total ecological disruption.
• Some filter feeding (ingest particles of small size) mayfly nymphs
thrive in such situations.
• They incorporate N and P in their bodies (as they feed on algae).
• Then, they return to land as adults and die on land.
Consequently, they return N and P to land where it is not a
severe problem.
END