Occurrence of Mayflies in Kolhapur District

Abstract

Globally 3000 species of mayflies are scattered in to 400 genera and 42 families (Barber James et al., 2008). Of these, 390 species in 84 genera and 20 families occur in the Oriental region. About 49% of the genera (41 genera) are endemic to the region (Barber James et al., 2008). A greater part of Mayflies life cycle spent as larvae in water, while their short terrestrial adult life is simply for reproduction (Dubey et al., 2013). The seasonal pattern of temperature and nutritive value of food significantly affects the life history characteristics of a variety of aquatic insect species (Sweeney 1984). A total of 10 species have been reported from Kolhapur district namely Sparsorythus gracilis Sroka and Soldan, Caenis nigrostriata Navas, Clypeocaenis bisetosa Soldan, Cloeon bicolor Kimmins, Cloeon kimminsi Hubbard, Cloeon marginale Hagen, Procloeon bimaculatum Eaton, Prosopistoma indicum Peters, Epeorus gilliesi Braasch, Povila corporaali Lestage.