Mayfly male

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Wim van Egmond
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Location: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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Mayfly male

Post by Wim van Egmond »

For Tom, a mayfly male. They have the strange double eyes. Under the strange upwards directing compound eyes is another pair. the image below is a crop actual pixel size to show the details.

Wim

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Last edited by Wim van Egmond on Thu May 18, 2006 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' Wim, :D

Yup, the males of some mayflies have these "goggly" eyes. These eyes occur mostly in mayfly species that inhabit large, open bodies of water. The enlarged eyes allow the male mayflies to detect females silhouetted against a large expanse of open sky. Mayfly species that inhabit restricted, running waters, generally, do not have these enlarged eyes as there is less sky to be seen from a creek or river. Cool, Wim :!: :D

Best regards as always, my friend :!: :D
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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MikeBinOKlahoma
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Location: Umm....Could it be Oklahoma?

Post by MikeBinOKlahoma »

And to think that so many of us mammal males hide OUR eyes behind sunglasses when we scan for females! :-)

Good shot of a very alien-looking subject!
Mike Broderick
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"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul.....My mandate includes weird bugs."--Calvin

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I have seen these large Mayflies around some of the lakes here in North Carolina but never paid them much attention since I am mainly a small stream fly fisherman. An interesting shot Wim. Next time I am bobber fishing at the lake (don't tell anyone I do such things), I will take more notice. :D
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Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
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