(Note: All links below are to external websites and leave the UWM website.) Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady thought it was time to give this episode from 2008 a make-over – many new words and pictures. Mayflies, order Ephemeroptera (which means …
The giant hatches for which Mayflies are famous are not restricted to the month of May. Female mayflies lay 500 to 1000 eggs each, dropping them into or placing them under the water’s surface. Immature mayflies (naiads) are aquatic, living under water, especially running water, for 6 weeks to 3 years, and going through 21 molts as a naiad. They are eaten by birds, bats, dragonflies, toads, frogs and fish. Adults do not have functional mouth parts and do not eat; they only live for a few hours.
