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The Oriental mayfly is a burrowing mayfly of East Asian rivers, famous in Seoul, South Korea, for swarming city lights along the Han River each spring. It does not live in North America. Its larvae dig into sandy river bottoms, while the adults have no working mouthparts and cannot bite.

Appearance

Appearance
Adults are about 1/2–2/3 in (13–17 mm) long, yellowish, with brown streaks on the wings. The forewings are large and the hindwings small.

Where it lives

Typical habitats
  • Slow, sandy stretches of rivers
  • Lakes and ponds
Range
Native to Korea, Japan, China, and the Russian Far East. It is not found in the US.

Behavior

Activity
In Korea adults emerge mainly in May–June, with a second wave in August–September. They are strongly drawn to lights at night.

Life cycle

Larva
Larvae burrow in sand on the bottom of slow rivers, breathe with gills on the abdomen, and have three tails and digging front legs.

Connected species

Close relatives
  • Eastern green drakeEphemera guttulata

    A same-genus mayfly found only along the eastern US and Canada, where the Oriental mayfly does not occur; it goes through the same water-larva, , and adult stages.

  • Brown drakeEphemera simulans

    The most common North American member of the family, found in the Rockies, Midwest, and Great Lakes; its nymphs burrow in sandy, silty stream bottoms much as Oriental mayfly larvae do in the Han River.

Conservation

IUCN Red List
NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed

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Oriental Mayfly (Ephemera orientalis) — identification, habitat & look-alikes | Moeyo