mayfly

noun

1. Any of the many fragile insects of the order Ephemeroptera that develop in fresh water and live very briefly as winged adults.

   “While some animals take months to reproduce, mayfly need just one perfect day.”

   “[A] silver fish clooped a lazy arc downstream, not really caring that the mayfly were out of reach; […]”

   “Adult mayflies have large compound eyes and most have two pairs of wings.[…]Mayfly nymphs are distinguished by their three tails (two cerci and a terminal filament) and the set of gills on each side of their abdomen.”

   “Mayflies are fragile, gossamer-winged insects that arise from bodies of water and often swarm in great numbers.”

   “Stoneflies have negligible consumptive (thin solid line) and behavioral effects (thin dashed line) on mayfly abundance. Consumption by trout decreases the abundance of mayflies (solid line), but trout suppress mayfly emigration (drift) and thereby increase their abundance (thick dashed line).”

2. (attributive, figuratively)Characterized by a short duration; short-lived.

   “Dipping a French fry in her tomato ketchup, she admits that her name recognition could be higher. But it did spike a year ago during the mayfly premiership of Liz Truss.”