How far could a mayfly travel in a day?

Authors

  • Tabitha Miranda Rosie WATSON University of Leicester

Keywords:

Biology, Physics, Mechanics

Abstract

This paper aims to determine how far the common mayfly, Ephemeroptera, could travel within its 24-hour subimago phase. This was achieved through two methods; both the analysis of literature values and by scaling down the known velocity of a comparable insect – the ruddy darter dragonfly, Sympetrum sanguineum. The velocity of the common mayfly was found to be 4.065 ms-1, meaning that the maximum distance that could have been covered in 24 hours was approximately 351.22 km.

References

Kush, R. (2014). Flies that have only 24-hour lifespans. Available: http://journalofzoology.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/flies-that-have-only-24-hours-lifespan.html [Accessed 11 December 2017]

Dean, T.J. (2003). Fastest Flyer. In: University of Florida Book of Insect Records. USA. Available: http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/chapter_01.shtml [Accessed 7 March 2018]

Snyder, B. (2012). Insect Flight. Bee Informed. Available: https://beeinformed.org/2012/01/23/3252/ [Accessed 11 December 2017]

British Dragonfly Society. (2017). Ruddy Darter. British Dragonfly Society. Available: https://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/ruddy-darter [Accessed 12 December 2017]

Key to Australian Freshwater and Terrestrial Invertebrates. (2017). Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Hexapoda, Class Insecta, Order Ephemeroptera. Available: http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/TFI/start%20key/key/hexapoda%20key/Media/HTML/Ephemeroptera.html [Accessed 12 December 2017]

Wakeling, J. & Ellington, C.P. (1997). Dragonfly flight. II. Velocities, accelerations and kinematics of flapping flight. Journal of Experimental Biology. 200 (3), 557-582. Available: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/200/3/557 [Accessed 7 March 2018]

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Published

07.03.2018

How to Cite

WATSON, T. M. R. (2018). How far could a mayfly travel in a day?. Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, 7. Retrieved from https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/jist/article/view/2584

Issue

Vol. 7 (2018)

Section

Articles

License

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