That’s bad luck

Mayflies are of the order Ephemeroptera from the Greek words ephemeros meaning short-lived and pteron meaning wing. The short-lived refers to the life span of the adult insect. They belong to an old group of insects including dragonflies and damselflies that share the characteristic of not being able to fold their wings down along their backs.

Like dragonflies and damselflies, mayflies spend the majority of their lifecycle as an aquatic nymph (pictured left). The nymph is characterised by having pairs of gills distributed along the abdomen and three tail filaments – a pair of cerci, usually containing sensory organs and a central terminal filament.

The nymphal form lives for years under water. It emerges from the water for the pentultimate moult producing a winged, sexually immature adult. This stage lasts minutes/hours before the final moult produces the sexually mature adult.

The sole purpose of the adult mayfly is to reproduce so much so that most do not eat and therefore have no mouthparts. The lifespan of the female mayfly is measured in minutes whilst the males may live up to two days. After mating the female mayfly deposits eggs in water and then dies.

With such a short lifespan it’s bad luck if your life is cut even shorter by being trapped in a spider’s web (pictured right).

No animals were hurt writing this blog. The spider had done its job before I got there.