Mayflies of the genus Ephemera are small flies of several species with upward-pointing wings. A mayfly (I think it is Ephemera danica) landed on my fingertip while I was standing on the banks of the Gayathri River in Trippalur near Alathur Palakkad.
The genus Ephemera is named after the Greek word ἐφήμερος (ephemeros = short-lived). Most have a lifespan of two hours to a day. Among them, the female of the species Dolania americana, lays eggs and dies within five minutes of emerging. The genus was first described in 1758 by the Swedish physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus.
Naturalists, scholars, and artists have noted the short lifespan of the adult mayfly since the time of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder. The Mesopotamian epic, ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’, one of the earliest works of world literature, compares the shortness of the hero’s life to that of a mayfly. In his satirical poem “The Newspaper” (1785), the English poet George Crabbe compared the short life of a newspaper to the life of a mayfly.
It is believed that the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) included this image in the lower right corner of his engraving of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus in her arms to show the connection of Infant Jesus to the earth.
– Vincent Vanur
