The shortest living animal on Earth is the mayfly.
Many species of the mayfly only live for a day or even less as adults.
Some species of mayflies such as the American sand burrowing mayfly, even have shorter lifespans and, males often live less than 1 hour and females just 5 minutes after reaching adulthood.
Mayflies are aquatic insects that belong to the order of Ephemeroptera.
This order is also part of an ancient group of insects which are termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains damselflies and dragonflies.
And over 3,000 species of mayflies are known worldwide, and they are grouped into over 400 genera in 42 families.
A mayflies lifespan is so short because the sole focus of mayflies as adults is reproduction and they lack the functional mouthparts and digestive systems to sustain themselves beyond this brief period of time.
Mayflies spend most of their lives as aquatic nymphs, and when the mayfly emerges as adults, their only purpose is to mate and lay eggs, after which they then quickly die.