Tomah Mayfly Siphlonisca aerodromia Bruce Scientific Classification: Kingdom: Animala Phylum: Mandibulata Class: Insecta Order: Epheneroptera Family: Siphlonuridne Genus: Siphlonisca Species: aerodromia

Natural History:

My animal is the only animal in its genus, Siphlonisca. The Tomah mayfly is an invertbrate, so it can’t be in the Phylum Chordata. The Tomah mayfly is not a mammal, but is a warm-blooded animal.

Like all insects, the Tomah mayfly is an arthropod. A lot of people think insects are like nothing, but really they’re not. The Tomah mayfly has some interesting features, like the fact that the females do not need a male to reproduce. Also most mayflies eat plants that are in the watery habitat that they live in. Species that eat plants are called herbivores. But no, the Tomah mayfly nymphs (a stage before they become adult mayflies) eat smaller nymphs. Species that eat other animals are called carnivores. So in a way Tomah mayflies are both predators and prey. The Tomah mayfly is also a producer.

This animal’s life is a short one. The Tomah mayfly’s life span is from about a few hours to a day. When it is born it gets enough food to grow into the adult stage. Then it gets its wings, flies up and tries to find a mate. You probably wouldn’t see it because it lives in meadows in very small numbers and it lives only in about 12 sites.

The reason why it is threatened is because of habitat destruction and pollution. In about 1930 dams were starting to be built near the rivers in which the Tomah mayfly lived, and these dams would flood its habitat.

The Tomah mayfly was thought to be extinct for about 50 years, but Dr. Cassie Gibbs rediscovered it in the 1970’s.

Habitat:

The Tomah mayfly lives in meadowed areas in the wilderness. The places they live seasonally flood, which destroys their habitat and also might wash up the nymphs and other small animals that might live there.

But Tomah mayflies also depend on the flooding. They require clean, unpolluted water. They are the first animals to die when water gets polluted or contaminated.

When the Tomah mayfly gets to the adult stage it will fly up above the water and will find a mate. The meadows might be surrounded by woods or they might be on or near a river or stream. One thing is the same though. With every place it might live, it is going to need water to live in. Another thing about its habitat is that it is probably going to live near where other mayflies live and its going to live near a place where smaller insects are and where there might be plants in the water.

There are about 12 sites in Maine where you can find Tomah mayflies. One place is the Tomah Stream, that runs off of the St. Croix River.

Present Status:

The Tomah mayfly is a threatened species in Maine.

Physical Description:

Mayflies are fragile and soft bodied. They are small insects, but they have a long body. They are bigger than regular flies, but smaller than dragonflies. Their body is yellow with brown stripes. On the end of their bodies they look like they have tails. They do not use their legs and arms because they only fly above water.

Their head is small for their bodies. They have long antennaes. Their wings are large for their body, and are triangluar. The wings are about 1/4” to a 1” long. The wings are very thin and have 4 wings because there are these big wings but under it, it may look like they are contened but the big wing over laps the little.

Diet & Feeding Habits:

When the Tomah mayfly is in the nymphal stage, a young mayfly, it will feed on smaller nymphs of either other species of mayfly or on its own. They do not eat any plants, unlike other mayfly nymphs. The Tomah mayfly nymph might eat other living organisms in the water, but they will not eat plants. Mayfly adults and nymphs are food for fish, frogs, and other bigger animals that live in the habitat that they live in.

When the mayfly gets out of the nymphal stage, they do not eat anything. They eat and grow under the water, but when they become adult mayflies they just fly up and try to find a mate.

Threats - Prospects for the Future - What’s Being Done to Help?

One of the reasons why the Tomah mayfly is threatened is because its habitat is being destroyed by seasonal flooding. The reason why their area is being flooded is because of the dams in the area. Other reasons might be pollution and/or wetland alteration.

I think people are helping them by making places where floods can’t happen, like the Tomah Stream. There are some things that we can do to help keep the Tomah mayfly from extinction like we can just stay away from them. The Tomah mayfly might get off the threatened list and will become an insect that people will see often. The Tomah mayfly is a cool animal if you take the time to learn about them like I did. (A plus is the very weird and interesting facts about them.)

Personal Essay:

So how does diversity strengthen an ecosystem? Well there are a lot of answers to this question. In a area where there is diversity more animals have a better diet. Like in a ocean area, fish eat plankton and other animals that are very small. Well what happens if the those animals aren’t there? Then the fish die or they adapt, if there is diversity in their environment.

What happens if fish die? Bigger animals that eat them die or they have to take some time to adapt to another food source. Then what happens to the even bigger fish that might eat them? They die and they too will have to find another food source. So you see if one animal goes away, they might all go away. This is called a food chain. And then we won’t have as diverse a place to live.

Another example of this question would be that say in a forest area, a bird usually eats worms for its main diet. And the bird in turn is eaten by a hawk. Well then let’s say that the birds go away. But what happened to the worms? They over-populate, and the hawk dies out for the lack of food. So in this case the bird is a “structure stone” (a structure stone is a metaphor for a item that is in a structure or system that is needed for the structure or sytem to work) for this little ecosystem.

Another strong reason that an ecosystem needs diversity for is that when an animal’s main food source is gone the diversity helps it find another food source. Like with the hawk example I made, the hawk might not die out because the ecosystem it lives in might have a really strong diversity of species so he can find something else instead of a certain type of bird.

My opinion about this whole ecosystem and everything we have been working on is that there are a lot of animals that people don’t know about and really don’t care about. Well, that’s what I thought before I did the expedition.

Now I see that the animals we really don’t care about may be one of the most important animals in an ecosystem. Like I have been saying, without certain animals in our environment we may lose things that we do like or just animals that we would never see again.

If you have never seen an animal or don’t know something about an animal that has never been discovered and then finally gets extinct then we might lose an animal that should have stayed alive. So you should see that a lot of diversity in one ecosystem really does help it out a lot.

Bibliography:

1. Nature Server Explorer.2002. www.natureserve.orgrcplotrt/serve/Natureserve?searchName=SIPHLONISCATAEROORORMIA.2/27/03

2.Wildlife Divison. www.state.me.us/ifw/wpr/oeandt.htm. 2/27/03

3. .Weik, Andy. Tomah Mayfly. “Wildlife Division of Maine”.1999.

4. .Invertebrates Listed in Maine. www.stateme.us/ifw/wildlife/endangered/group/tommay.htm

5. ohioline.osu.edu/yg-fact/2002/zibb.html