Editing Mayfly (section)

=== Distribution ===

Mayflies are distributed all over the world in clean freshwater habitats,<ref name=NC/> though absent from Antarctica.<ref name="Riffenburgh2007">{{cite book |last=Riffenburgh |first=Beau |title=Encyclopedia of the Antarctic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRJtB2MNdJMC&pg=PA531 |year=2007 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-0-415-97024-2 |page=531}}</ref> They tend to be absent from oceanic islands or represented by one or two species that have dispersed from nearby mainland. Female mayflies may be dispersed by wind, and eggs may be transferred by adhesion to the legs of waterbirds.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Edmunds Jr. |first=George F. |title= Biogeography and Evolution of Ephemeroptera | journal= Annual Review of Entomology | volume=17 | pages= 21–42 |year=1972| doi=10.1146/annurev.en.17.010172.000321 }}</ref> The greatest generic diversity is found in the [[Neotropical realm]], while the [[Holarctic]] has a smaller number of genera but a high degree of speciation. Some thirteen families are restricted to a single [[bioregion]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barber-James |first1=Helen M. |last2=Gattolliat |first2=Jean-Luc |last3=Sartori |first3=Michel |last4=Hubbard |first4=Michael D. |title=Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment |chapter=Global diversity of mayflies (Ephemeroptera, Insecta) in freshwater |series=Developments in Hydrobiology |year=2008 |volume=198 |pages=339–350 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-8259-7_37 |isbn=978-1-4020-8258-0 }}</ref> The main families have some general habitat preferences: the [[Baetidae]] favour warm water; the [[Heptageniidae]] live under stones and prefer fast-flowing water; and the relatively large [[Ephemeridae]] make burrows in sandy lake or river beds.<ref name=NC>{{cite web |title=Ephemeroptera |url=https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/course/ent425/library/compendium/ephemeroptera.html |website=General Entomology |publisher=[[University of North Carolina]] |access-date=10 July 2015 |archive-date=9 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109022807/https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/course/ent425/library/compendium/ephemeroptera.html  }}</ref>