Date First Recorded in the Garden: 12/08/2022
Family Baetidae: Small Minnow Mayflies
Baetidae are a family of Mayflies referred to often as Minnow or Small Minnow Mayflies on account of the members of the family generally being small. Online sources suggest globally around 1000 species within this family alone. We are not entirely sure how many species of this particular family there are in the UK, but overall there are around 50 species of Mayfly in general.
Cloeon dipterum
As with Centroptilum luteolum, the males have unusual large eyes on turrets. These guys only have tiny hind wings, reduced to such an extent that you need a really good close up image (which we don’t have) to notice them.
In the Garden
This species likes small ponds so could well be resident. Indeed we have a suspicion that the nymph below may belong to this species and this therefore could be a resident species.
We were also fortunate to capture the video below, which we again believe is of this species not long after it has emerged from its winged sub-imago stage. Mayflies are unique in having this stage. We love this footage, despite its shaky wind blown quality, as it appears to show the adult checking out its own exuvia.
Wildlife Garden 