mayflies
Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order ...
with about 1000 described species in 110 genera distributed worldwide. These are among the smallest of mayflies, adults rarely exceeding 10 mm in length excluding the two long slender tails and sometimes much smaller, and members of the family are often referred to as small mayflies or small minnow mayflies. Most species have long oval forewings with very few cross veins (see Comstock-Needham system) but the hindwings are usually very small or even absent. The males often have very large
eye
An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system.
In higher organisms, the ey ...
s, shaped like turrets above the head (this is known as "turbinate condition").
Baetids breed in a wide range of waters from
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
s and
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...
s to
ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...
nymphs
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
are strong swimmers and feed mainly on
algae
Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
.
Taxonomy
The majority of living genera (approximately 95) are placed in the subfamily
Baetinae
Baetidae is a family of mayfly, mayflies with about 1000 described species in 110 genera distributed worldwide. These are among the smallest of mayflies, adults rarely exceeding 10 mm in length excluding the two long slender tails and someti ...
,BioLib.cz family Baetidae Leach, 1815 (retrieved 31 March 2024) with the subfamily Palaeocloeoninae Kluge, 1997 consisting of the single genus †'' Palaeocloeon'' from the
Santonian
The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...
aged Taimyr amber. The oldest members of the family date to the Late Cretaceous, with '' Myanmarella'' and '' Vetuformosa'' known from the
Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...
aged
Burmese amber
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...
. The genus '' Petracloeon'' Sroka & Gattolliat, 2025 is known from the
Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...
-aged
Tar Heel Formation
The Tar Heel Formation, also known as the Coachman Formation in South Carolina, is a Late Cretaceous (early to middle Campanian-aged) geologic formation in North Carolina and South Carolina, USA. It preserves fossils, including amber dating back t ...
of
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
Baetis
''Baetis'' is a genus of mayfly, mayflies of the family Baetidae, known as the blue-winged olive to angling, anglers. There are at least 150 described species in ''Baetis''. They are distributed worldwide, with the most variety in North Amer ...
'' Leach, 1815 (
type genus
In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name.
Zoological nomenclature
According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...
Camelobaetidius
''Camelobaetidius'' is a genus of small minnow mayfly, small minnow mayflies in the family Baetidae. There are at least 40 described species in ''Camelobaetidius''.
Species
These 44 species belong to the genus ''Camelobaetidius'':
* ''Camelobae ...
List of mayflies of the British Isles
This list of mayflies of the British Isles follows Macadam, with nomenclature and taxonomy according to Kluge. There are 51 species of mayfly known to occur in the British Isles
Species
The following genera and species have been recorded: from te ...
References
*
Chinery, Michael
Michael Chinery (born 1938, in London) is an English naturalist.
He studied in Cambridge where he graduated in natural sciences and anthropology.
He edits '' Cecidology'', the journal of the British Plant Gall Society
The British Plant Gall ...
''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991)
* McGavin, George C. ''Insects and Spiders'' 2004
Fauna Europaea