What are Mayflies?
Mayflies are a group of winged insects classified under Order Ephemeroptera, which means “short-lived wing” in Greek. Mayflies are famous for their short lifespans: ranging from a day to as short as 30 minutes. This makes them the shortest-lived of all known animals, including all known microorganisms, whose lifespan is almost always longer than a day. For an animal to be considered “short-lived” in the zoology community, it has to live less than about a week. Mayflies superficially resemble a cross between dragonflies and crickets, to both of which they are related. Mayflies spend months to years in an undeveloped form called a nymph. Mayflies of a given population tend to all mature simultaneously, covering every available surface and being ubiquitous for their very short lifespans. They live just long enough to reproduce and die. By contrast, most other insects live for a few weeks at the least. There are about 2,500 species of mayfly known worldwide, with 630 species found in North
