fours and fives in PA
Hello!
We are a class of 4 and 5 year olds in PA. You have helped us before identifying bugs and we hope you can help again. We search our playground daily for bugs, photograph them and then hang them on our wall [we included a photo]. We have then been using your site to help us identify what we find. We have figured out most of them now [hopefully correctly] but are stumped on a couple. THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH BUGMAN!
Fours and Fives in PA
Hi again Fours and Fives,
Both of these photos are of Mayflies. The photos look so nice together. Your BugWall is pretty awesome.
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Posted 28 August 2006
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Strange Fly
What’sThatBug.com:
I recently encountered this large fly on my honeymoon in Alexandria Bay, in the Thousand Islands region of New York. It was sedately sunning on my balcony until I started trying to get close enough to take a macro mode shot. It began lifting it’s mandibles and whip-like in threatening(or inquisitive) ways at me. It was quite a show, and if the display was for purposes of intimidation I would say it suceeded! I should’ve taken a quick movie clip of it, but these pics will have to suffice…. So, what’s that bug?
-Ben H.
P.S…. And, no, I didn’t kill it! Though if it were inside I probably would have. Just to prove I wasn’t scared.
Hi Ben,
Mayflies in the order Ephemeroptera, are totally harmless. Adults do not even possess mouthparts as they only live a few days and their sole purpose is to mate, (except to provide food to other creatures including trout).
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Posted 07 August 2006
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New species of a water bug?
Hey bug guys,
Here on vacation in Minnesota, we spend plenty of time in lake Kabekona, the lake we’re staying at. However, picking up and moving rocks today, this little bugger somehow found his way to my finger, just kind of hung on but wasn’t really holding on too tightly to me. He acted like a fish out of water on my finger, didn’t move or do anything, I thought I accidentally killed it trying to find a frisbee to put water in so it would be happy. After putting it back in some water, it perked up and swam around using it’s 6 legs and 3 tails, awkward looking little guy.. I was hoping you guys could tell us if this is maybe a parasite or just another weird bug, he was very small only about a quarter of an inch, perhaps a little less. Thanks for your time, hope to hear back from you soon!
Cheers,
Becky Studley
Hi Becky,
This is an immature Mayfly, known as a Naiad. Mayflies belong to the order Ephemeroptera. Adults do not feed and only live a few days. Naiads feed on algae and microscopic organic debris.
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Posted 19 July 2006
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Can you identify?
This bug landed on the outside of my office window a while back and I’ve saved the picture ever since hoping to find out what it was. I’ve never seen a bug quite like this. Any ideas?
Jenn
Hi Jenn,
Even though this is a Mayfly, they appear in other months as well.
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Posted 27 March 2006
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What is this bug?
Good Day,
Love the site… great fun for a fly tier like
myself! A friend from Singapore found many of the following insect on a resevoir there and wondered what is was… any ideas? Thanks!
Christopher
Hi Christopher,
This is some type of Homopteran, we believe. We are still checking though. Eric Eaton came to the rescue: ” Wondering now if the Homopteran from Singapore might actually be some kind of mayfly. Looks like it might have had two tails that broke off, and at least some mayflies have only one pair of wings, which this insect seems to have. Lastly, the fact that it was found by a fly fisherman floating in a reservoir just about seals the deal”
Update: (11/02/2007)
Hi guys… Hi there,
LOL, this is indeed a mayfly and not a Homopteran. This species has very short tail (not broken) but similar species up north (Malaysia and Thailand) do have longish tails. I have read elsewhere that identification is in order. This species burrow and feed on drift wood , the aquatic nymphs are favourite food for many types of fishes found in the reservoirs. I have seen the females ascending from sky in the morning and land on the water, and start fluttering (more like vibrating and sending ripples) its wing and dragging the egg sack attach via a strong silk like stuff to the end of the tail. It will keep fluttering until it attaches the egg sack to any structure dotting the shorelines and die there. The egg sag will absorb water and within days grow bulkier and look very much like frog eggs! Once the nymphs leave the clear jelly sack they start to look for drift wood to burrow and feed. Singapore is an seasonal country so this species lay eggs almost every morning with no particular peak season. I have been trying to find literature on this species to no avail for the last 2 decades. Save the short tail, they have very Mayfly like body anatomy (side fins along abs), which I therefore told my friends as much. That’s the story 
Strangely I have yet to see the hatching and mating, only the spent stage as mentioned above. Where do you think I should look for the actions? I never see any shack so far! What a mystery Mayfly…. Regards,
Yu Hock
Hi Yu Hock,
Thanks for all the valuable information on this unusual Mayfly. Sadly, we are unable to provide you with any additional information.
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Posted 22 September 2005
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I was vacationing last week in Salt Creek, NY along the Wappinger Creek and took a double portrait of this bug which was resting nears it’s newly shed exoskeleton & just thought I would share.
Barry Hayman
Washington, D.C
Hi Barry,
What a wonderful photo of a newly metamorphosed Mayfly. Despite their name, Mayflies mature during other months as well. Adults only live a few days, long enough to mate..
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Posted 15 August 2005
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More unidentified critters
I photographed three of these on recent trips to Arkansas and one at a local park here in Southern Cal. Hoping you could help me identify them.
Thanks
Rus
Hi Rus,
This Mayfly is one of your Arkansas critters. Mayflies belong to the Order Ephemeroptera which alludes to the fact that they only live a day, though some live several days. May is not the only month they are found. When they emerge as adults, they usually do so in great numbers. Their nymphs or naiads are aquatic. Your photo is stunning, and will result in a new page for our site.
Identification Update:
(08/01/2005) The mayfly is a male subimago of the genus Hexagenia. The nymphs are burrowers in mud and debris in clean streams and rivers. This one is related to the mayflies that occasionally form huge emergence swarms on the upper Mississippi and the Great Lakes. Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
R. Wills Flowers
Center for Biological Control
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL 32307
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