Mayflies, mayflies, are slender insects that can fly through the sky in large clouds. The flies that only live for 24 hours can even pose a danger to traffic. Millions of individuals crawl out at about the same time and swarm. It is one of nature’s riddles. Their existence has become proverbial for something that lasts very short: it is a one-hit fly.
- Mayflies or Mayflies
- Slender insects
- Nymph
- Mating dance and reproduction
- Image
- Rain radar Missisippi
- Water quality
Mayflies or Mayflies
Mayflies are also called mayaften mentioned. They belong to the order of the Ephemeroptera. In the Netherlands there are 59 different types of it. It is a beast that spends at different stages of its life in different environments. As a larva, nymph, you see it in fresh water. When the weather gets warmer they crawl out of the water and start swarming. Together they can then form entire clouds that can even flatten traffic. In a short time, the flies get the most out of their lives. They don’t sting, by the way.
Slender insects
The slender insects have a delicate body, two pairs of wings, large eyes, short brush-like antennae and long tail wires. Mayflies only live for a very short time, a few hours to a few days. During that time when they are flying they have no time at all to eat and therefore they don’t even have a mouth. That body part has degenerated. A mayfly only wants one thing and that is reproduction.
Nymph
Nymphs live in the water. There they can live for weeks to years. How long depends on the type and temperature of the water. Nymphs have three tail wires on the back of their bodies. They even have gills in their abdomen for breathing. During the time they are in the water they live on algae and plants. A nymph is a young specimen of insects that undergo an incomplete transformation. In general, nymphs are very similar to their adult form, except that the wings are not fully developed.
Mating dance and reproduction
When the mayflies have come out to fly, they start their mating dance. The males form with millions of large clouds that seem to go up and down. They rise about ten meters and then drop. The females play their part in this mating dance. They fly into the cloud and are then jumped by the guys. There is only one male per female that mates, the fastest. With its long front legs it clings to its conquest and while still in the air they mate until they touch the ground. It means the end of the male, he dies after doing his duty. The female then has to complete an important task: she has to lay the eggs. She does this by putting her abdomen in a pool and depositing the eggs on the water. She has about five minutes for that. Then her life will also be over.
Image
Mayflies have to do without a larval and pupa stage. The immature animal is a nymph and that is how they spend most of their life. The nymphs are sensitive to pollution, which means that you can recognize a healthy pond by the presence of nymphs in a pool. Mayafts are special insects because, as the only insect order, they molt in a winged stage. The nymph rises to the surface of the water and lets a so-called sub-image slip out of the nymph’s skin. This one is fully winged and can also fly. Not long after, another shedding takes place after which the final image appears.
Rain radar Missisippi
In July 2014, some parts of America experienced such large and thick mayfly clouds that they can even be seen on the outer radar. It was found in the Mississippi delta. The year 2014 was somewhat exceptional. They had not often seen it like this in that region. Motorists warned the fire brigade because they thought there was smoke and therefore a fire somewhere. The gigantic cloud covered the towns of La-Crosse, Le Crescent and Stoddard. Houses, branch station, streets: everything was covered with a thick layer of mayfly. A few years earlier, the towns had to deal with the same phenomenon. Then even snow shovels were used to clean up the remains of the flies. The fly remnants can cause dangerous situations, because the road surface can become very slippery from the mayfly slurry.
Water quality
The fact that there are again many mayflies in the Mississippi delta is a good sign for water quality. Things were different at the end of the twentieth century. Then the fly had almost disappeared from the area due to pollution. The eggs of the mayflies provide food for fish, so that a good mayfly position is also good for the fish population in the area. Fishermen are happy with it.
Car wash
An industry rubs its hands: the car wash. The cars are lined up in long queues in front of the after an outbreak of mayflies car wash to be cleaned.