Last night I dreamed ....

[salmobytes 0]

 

I dreamed I saw St. Baetistine, alive as you or me

 

[mikechell 0]

On the jaws of a vise ... very neat photo.

[hairwing 0]

“Arise, arise,” he cried so loud

In a voice without restraint

Come up you small eyed lovely ones

and we'll dance the dance of life

My favorite bug.

I always identify it by the two tails and the small vestigial forewing, males have the big eyes and females the small ones, no....all the better to see you my dear.

....but whats up with those forewings. Has anyone figured out what happened there? Evolution controlled by a change in our atmosphere? Seems like all mayflies gave up on full size for the stubs.

Multi-broods will keep this species alive and keep us fly casters happy.

Does the male join the female underwater for egg laying ...and why? He already did his job as an airborne ranger.

[salmobytes 0]

Those questions I cannot answer (where they lay their eggs etc).

 

The most interesting mayfly story for me is how different they are as nymphs. And how similar they are as adults. The basic dun and spinner (sub-imago and imago) morphology is the same for all mayflies, varying only by size and color and minor details like two or three tails. Turn any adult mayfly into a high contrast silhouette and normalize the size and they all look much alike. While the nymphs vary wildly.

 

Why? Evolution requires the nymphs to vary according to myriad habitats. But the adults only need to survive in streamside bushes for a few hours, mate and then die. So there is no evolutionary pressure on the adults, as there is indeed on the nymphs. Amazing.