Mayflies of Berrien County, Michigan, and Vicinity

Mayflies are aquatic invertebrates of the Order Ephemeroptera within the Class Insecta. Ethan Bright’s Ephemeroptera (mayflies) of Michigan documents the occurrence of 124 species and 42 genera, with another 41 species expected to occur based on their presence in neighboring States.

The Mayflies of the United States lists confirmed records of just 2 species (representing 2 families and 2 genera) in Berrien County, with another 11 species (representing another 3 families and 6 genera) documented from the neighboring counties of Cass and Van Buren in Michigan and La Porte and St. Joseph in Indiana. In total, then, a minimum of 13 species of mayflies representing 5 families and 8 genera are likely to occur in Berrien County. In the following list, species known from Berrien County are bold-faced, while those known from neighboring counties are in brackets; common family names are from the Guide to aquatic invertebrates of the upper Midwest (.pdf):

Family Baetidae (small minnow mayflies):

[Baetis brunneicolor (La Porte)]

[Baetis flavistriga (St. Joseph)]

[Baetis tricaudatus (St. Joseph)]

[Callibaetis ferrugineus (Van Buren)]

Family Caenidae (small square-gill mayflies):

[Caenis amica (La Porte, Van Buren)]

Caenis latipennis (Berrien, La Porte, St. Joseph)

[Caenis punctata (La Porte)]

Family Ephemeridae (common burrowing mayflies):

[Ephemera simulans (Cass, La Porte)]

[Hexagenia limbata (Cass, La Porte)]

Family Heptageniidae (flathead mayflies):

[Epeorus namatus (La Porte)]

[Maccaffertium (=Stenonema) exiguum (La Porte)]

[Maccaffertium (=Stenonema) vicarium (St. Joseph)]

Family Polymitarcyidae (pale burrowing mayflies):

Ephoron album (Berrien)