Welcome to Catnapin's

Insect Gallery

Mayfly

order Ephemeroptera

Mayflies have an aquatic stage called naiads which are herbaceous scavengers.  They are elongated, flattened, or cylindrical with long legs, side gills, and 3 (some have 2) long thin tails.

The front legs are often longer than the others and are held forward when at rest.

They have 4 wings the rear wings are smaller than the front pair.  At rest, wings are held over the body.  Adults have clear wings while pre-adults are cloudy.  Mayflies are the only insect to molt after they have wings.  Adults do not eat and only live a few hours or a few days.

Dead mayfly found in water.

Mayfly molt attached to wall, not near water.