Mayflies
Ephemeroptera
Mayflies (also known as Canadian soldiers in the United States, or shadflies or fishflies in Canada and Michigan; also up-winged flies in the United Kingdom ) are aquatic insects belonging to the order Ephemeroptera. This order is part of an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies. Over 3,000 species of mayfly are known worldwide, grouped into over 400 genera in 42 families.
16 branches of this order, most-observed first
Pisciforma
suborderPisciforma
Furcatergalia
suborderFurcatergalia
Coloburiscidae
familyColoburiscidae
Nesameletidae
familyNesameletidae
Carapacea
suborderCarapacea
Ameletopsidae
familyAmeletopsidae
Ichthybotidae
familyIchthybotidae
Oniscigastridae
familyOniscigastridae
Water Specs
familyProsopistomatidae
Siphluriscidae
familySiphluriscidae
Rallidentidae
familyRallidentidae
Fringed-sucker Clingers
familyDicercomyzidae
Siphlaenigmatidae
familySiphlaenigmatidae
Pop-eyed Mayflies
familyMachadorythidae
African Oval-gills
familyEphemerythidae
Melanemerellidae
familyMelanemerellidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ephemeroptera in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 48011.