We are often told that “life is too short” and that we should “seize the day”, but compared to other inhabitants of Earth, humans here have much more time than most.

So which animal has the shortest lifespan?

It’s probably hard to say. It is difficult for researchers to study transient life in detail, and many animals remain to be discovered. With all this, daylilies are a strong contender for the title of least long-lived animal.

These aquatic insects hatch from eggs as nymphs and live underwater for up to two years. They then develop wings for the subimago and imago stages, the final stages of their life cycle for mating. Many in winged form live less than 24 hours, some can’t even live 5 minutes.

Most diurnal species transition from water to land to air during the subimago stage and then reproduce during the imago stage. In neither stage, they have a functional mouth or digestive system and instead live off energy reserves accumulated during the nymph stage, mayfly researcher and biology professor Luke Jacobus at Indiana University and Purdue University in Columbus told Live. an email Science.

“Without a bulky digestive system, females have more room in their bodies for eggs,” Jacobus said. “I have seen an individual so full of eggs that they were inside its head. Sometimes with over 10,000 eggs per female, they can make good use of their short adult life.”

Like other species that live quickly and die young, mayflies feed on dense prey and must produce large numbers of offspring to survive into adulthood and reproduce. But Jacobus says that while it may be tempting to ask “why” mayflies are short-lived, “why not?” He stated that the question was better.

“Ancient fossil daylilies are not much different from what we see today,” Jacobus said. “The system they have is working very well for them.”

Heath Ogden, a professor of evolutionary biology at Utah Valley University who studies the evolution of mayflies, told Live Science that these insects first appeared about 350 million years ago. Ogden also noted that “evolution does tinkering,” and in tinkering with such bugs, evolution has discovered that spending more time as a fairy is actually a good strategy.

“Evolution seems to have decided that as a nymph you are mostly foraging for food, and as an adult you are just a flight, reproduction and egg-laying mechanism,” he said. .

According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Biodiversity Portal, American mayflies (dolania american) has the shortest adult age of all recorded species. Males live less than an hour after reaching maturity, while females have only five minutes to reproduce before dying. However, American sand-burrowing mayflies still spend up to two years as nymphs before this surprisingly brief adulthood.

According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Biodiversity Portal, American mayflies (dolania american) has the shortest adult age of all recorded species. Males live less than an hour after reaching maturity, while females have only five minutes to reproduce before dying. However, American sand-burrowing mayflies still spend up to two years as nymphs before this surprisingly brief adulthood.

According to the Australian Museum, seven-digit dwarf bulls in other countries of the animal world (Eviota sigillata) complete their life cycle within two months and have the shortest lifespan among known vertebrates. Fish spend three weeks of their lives as young larvae in the open ocean; They settle on the reef for a week or two to mature before living up to three and a half weeks as adults, according to a 2005 article in the journal Current Biology. Source