New Delhi (NVI): The Danish Mayfly has been selected by an international group of entomologists and others as the Insect of the Year for 2021.
A board of trustees established by the German Entomological Institute has named an Insect of the Year every year since 1999, with the aim of honoring an insect species that deserves greater fame for its rarity, its ecological value, aesthetic value — or even its “ordinariness.”
The insect, whose scientific name is Ephemera Danica, only has a few days to fly, mate and lay new eggs.
Mayflies have existed for about 355 million years and today some 140 species live in Central Europe.
Despite their fleeting time on earth in their final form, their developmental cycle is quite long.
Female mayflies zigzag over water between May and September, laying thousands of eggs that then sink.
Larvae hatch within a few days, and eventually develop gills. Buried in riverbeds, they take between one to three years to develop.
“Shortly before the transition from aquatic to terrestrial life, a layer of air forms between the old and new skin of the adult larvae,” said Schmitt, who is also director of the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute in Muencheberg, east of Berlin.
He added, ”By reducing its specific weight, the larva rises to the water surface. Once there, the larval skin bursts and within a few seconds a flyable mayfly hatches.”
With no mouth parts nor a functioning intestine, the fully developed mayfly has only a few days then to mate and lay new eggs before it dies.
-CHK
