Would you like know more about what the mayfly life cycle means? In just a second you'll have all the details but first here's a quick description. Pre-adults are called sub-imagoes and adult mayflies are called imagoes. Their front wings are triangular shaped with several cross veins, held upright and together over the thorax. One distinguishing factor between pre-adults and adults is that the sub-imagoes have cloudy winds and the imagoes have clear wings. And some species are born with patterned wings. Body color varies with some being yellow, green, white and black.
Oddly enough, adult mayflies live a very short life span. In fact the after the mayfly life cycle is complete, and they have become adults, they usually only survive one to two nights. During this particular time, the adults mate in swarms in the air. You'll find they are attracted to bright lights. Eggs are deposited in one of three ways. Either when flying low over the water or when the abdomen is dipped on the water surface or the mayfly submerges themselves and lay eggs under the water. The adult female will lay eggs into the water and typically die on the water's surface.
Pre-adult mayflies have chewing mouth-parts however the adults do not feed at all. Before maturing they feed by finding tiny pieces of organic matter like plant material, algae, and debris that have piled up on rocks in streams. The majority of the species in Texas choose to highly oxygenated water spots and some species develop in lakes and ponds. Typically they go unnoticed and at times you may come across a large number of adults. There's no need to be overly concerned about the mayfly life cycle because even though they are a nuisance, they are not medically harmful.