Dolania americana

Edmunds & Traver, 1959

American Sand-burrowing Mayfly

Dolania americana is a predacious, sand-burrowing and the sole in the Dolania. exhibit an exceptionally brief lifespan, emerging before dawn, mating, and dying within approximately thirty minutes. Females deposit in water and die within five minutes of , representing the shortest known adult lifespan among mayflies. The species has a two-year with synchronous mass emergence and specialized reproductive adaptations including large, energy-rich eggs that produce unusually large first-instar larvae.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Dolania americana: /dɔˈlɑniə əˌmɛrɪˈkænə/

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Habitat

Sand-burrowing; inhabits sandy substrates in freshwater lotic environments. Documented from coarse rolling sand in upper Three Runs Creek, Savannah River Plant, South Carolina, and northwestern Florida.

Distribution

Southeastern United States, ranging from South Carolina south to Florida. Records from Upper Three Runs Creek near Aiken, South Carolina, and northwestern Florida.

Seasonality

emerge before dawn in early summer, with >95% of occurring during the first week of the emergence period. deposited in early June hatch the following spring.

Diet

Predacious. Larvae are predatory, with large first-instar size enabling exploitation of a broad size range of prey.

Life Cycle

Two-year : deposited in early June hatch the following spring; larval development requires 12–14 months; is synchronous with mass . Larval growth is continuous with seasonal variation. Net production for larvae ranges seasonally from 5.3% to 29.2%.

Behavior

Sand-burrowing throughout larval life. exhibit highly synchronous with >95% emerging during the first week. Adult size decreases progressively during the emergence period. Weight-specific respiration rates in larvae are inversely related to larval size but positively correlated with water temperature between 6°C and 23°C.

More Details

Reproductive Specialization

is unique among Ephemeroptera: one develops per with low ovariole numbers, and one-third to one-half of ovarioles are routinely resorbed. averages 77 per female (range can drop to 6 under starvation), approximately 20 times lower than mayflies from other . Mature egg dry weight is ~32 times that of non-Behningiidae mayflies. Eggs possess thick and thick, sticky fibrous suprachorionic layer adapted to resist damage from sand and fungi during the nearly one-year . The large egg produces a first-instar larva 2.5–5 times the length of any other first instar.

Bioenergetics

Caloric content ranges from 4.63 to 6.55 cal/mg across life stages, with having the highest content (average 6.18 cal/mg) and subimaginal skins the lowest (4.63 cal/mg). Eggs have high protein content (50.3%) relative to lipid (25.5%) and (9.0%).