Unknown Bug! mars o shrimp!
Location: middle east
October 17, 2011 5:05 am
Hi there,
you guys are amazing.i’m so glad that ive found you.last week i was hanging around in my house that suddenly i saw a bug.i have no idea what is it,hope you can identify it.
Signature: MD
Exuvia of a Mayfly
Dear MD,
This is the exuvia or shed exoskeleton of a Mayfly. The aquatic nymphs of Mayflies, known as naiads, leave the water to molt into winged subadults, and what you found is the remain of the molting process. See this image from BugGuide that looks similar.
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¶ Posted 17 October 2011 § ‡ ° Intriguing Bug… intriguing behavior
Location: Fraser Valley, BC, Canada
September 27, 2011 9:13 pm
Hello Mr. Bugman,
I have had this very interesting little bug on my window since around mid June (it is now the end of September). I just checked before I took these pictures today and he/she is very much alive still. Do you know what it is so that I can look further into why it is behaving this way? I gently picked him/her up and placed her on a plant and within an hour he/she was right back on my window. Sometimes he/she is brownish and sometimes he/she is a brilliant light green color.
Thank you tons.
C.T.
Signature: Thank you Tons. C.T.
Mayfly
Dear C.T.,
This is a Mayfly in the order Ephemeroptera. You can see the U.C. Berkeley website for more information on Mayflies. We can tell you that the name Ephemeroptera is a reference to the very short life of the adult or imago that often lives for a single day. Adult Mayflies do not feed. We are certain that the Mayfly you photographed is not the same as the individual you noticed in June. The light green individuals you have seen are the subimagos or subadults. Mayflies are unusual in that they molt twice in the final winged stage of their life.
That is awesome info! Thank you so greatly. I often get interesting bugs on my deck. If I find them in the future, can I contact you again?
Thank you also for you quick response. I was excited to see your email and surprised and how fast you got back to me.
Smiles,
Cheryl
We have many contributors who send us multiple identification requests, but we cannot guarantee that our small staff will be able to respond to every request.
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¶ Posted 28 September 2011 § ‡ ° this bug is cute but scary
Location: Troy IL
September 7, 2011 6:34 pm
i want to know what kind of bug this is because my friend has passed away and we had a great memory with this bug i have a picture i would really appreciate it if i could get what bug it is as soon as possible
Signature: bug lover kindof
Mayfly
Dear bug lover kindof,
We are sorry to hear about your friend. This is a harmless Mayfly, a member of the order Ephemeroptera. Mayflies do not feed as adults, and many only live for a few days, long enough to mate and lay eggs. Mayflies sometimes appear in tremendous numbers, swarming around street lights and other sources of light near bodies of water that serve as the habitat for the aquatic larvae.
1
¶ Posted 08 September 2011 § ‡ ° weird insect!
Location: Paddington, London, UK
August 10, 2011 5:20 am
hi there,
I have seen this couple of times in the gents toilet and wonder what that thing really is!!
Signature: any way possible
Mayfly
Dear any way possible,
This is a Mayfly in the order Ephemeroptera. Mayflies are fascinating insects that have aquatic larvae. Sometimes adults are so plentiful the pavement under street lights becomes slick with their smashed bodies. Mayflies are an important food source for fish, birds, insects and other insectivores.
Reptile Insect
Location: Gladwin County, Michigan
July 27, 2011 8:19 am
Ok…I live in Gladwin County Michigan, and I saw this weird looking thing. My family and I are wondering what it is? It looks like a cross between a reptile, insect and rino.
Thanks,
Jeff
Signature: Thanks
Mayfly
Hi Jeff,
Your insect is a Mayfly.
¶ Posted 27 July 2011 § ‡ ° small fly with forked tail
Location: California, Whittier (Los Angeles suburban)
July 2, 2011 10:02 pm
We recently have a large number of these flies on our porch. They don’t move around much and cling to the stucco wall. We have about 50 of them in a small area. Do you know what they are ? Are they a sign of a problem with the house (like a termite infestation or similar) ?
Signature: Dave
Mayfly
Hi Dave,
You have Mayflies, the winged adult of an aquatic naiad, congregating around your porch light. There must be a nearby pond or stream that is providing the habitat for the nymphs. Though fifty individuals may seem like a swarm, in places in the midwest, millions of Mayflies are attracted to street lights and the pavement can become slick with their crushed bodies. See this posting from our archives. Mayflies do not feed as adults, and they only live long enough to mate and reproduce, and possibly provide a food source for the many predators that feed upon insects. They tend to be more common in the spring, hence the name Mayfly, but they can be found at other times as well.
Mayflies at the porch light
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¶ Posted 03 July 2011 § ‡ ° What are these?!
Location: South Carolina
June 19, 2011 2:42 pm
My daughter and I found these on our back porch in SC in the summertime. We found three yellow ones and one brown one…
Signature: Rebekah
Giant Mayfly subimago
Dear Rebekah,
All of your photos are of Mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera, and we believe they are Giant Mayflies, or Golden Mayflies, or Burrowing Mayflies in the genus Hexagenia, based on images posted to BugGuide. BugGuide notes: “Very large mayflies. Usually pale golden yellow at least when freshly emerged, i.e., subimago. Several species dark with bold striped pattern as mature imagos. Wings not uniformly dark, as are some other genera of this family. Pale brown band across abdomen. Antennae, legs, and tails yellow. (Photographs show either pale golden mayflies–probably subimagos, or very dark individuals, full imagoes?)” Mayflies are unique among insects in that they molt twice as adults. Daniel Marlos in his book, The Curious World of Bugs, writes: “Shortly after emerging from the water in preparation for becoming an adult, the naiad, or aquatic nymph, molts and assumes its winged form. This is known as the subimago because within a few hours, it will molt again, shedding even the covering of its wings, at which point it becomes a full adult, or imago.” We are inclined to believe that your yellow individuals are sumimagos, and the brown individual is an imago or mature adult.
Giant Mayfly imago
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¶ Posted 19 June 2011 § ‡ ° Little mayfly tempting me to skip work
Location: Yakima, WA
November 12, 2010 6:53 pm
I came into my office one morning in late March and found this little Baetis mayfly, or ”blue winged olive” as anglers know them, on my computer screen, tempting me to blow off work and go fly fishing. Oh, well, Windows is known to be buggy.
Signature: Paul Huffman, President-for-Life, Moclips Surf Club
Blue Winged Olive: A Mayfly
Hi again Paul,
There can never be too many opportunities to hang the “Gone Fishing” sign. Thanks for relaying the Blue Winged Olive moniker. We will link to the genus Baetis on BugGuide.
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