Dark Hendrickson
The dark Hendrickson is a mayfly from North America. It spends most of its life as a young one at the gravelly bottom of cool, fast streams. In spring the grown-ups fly up out of the water with just one job: to find a mate.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It only lives in very clean water, so finding it tells you a stream is healthy.
The males have big reddish eyes and a rusty red body, which is why it is also called the red quill.
The females are bigger than the males and duller, grey-brown to olive.
Just before it is fully grown, it can already fly and has three long tails.
The grown-ups come out in April and early May, after the first warm days of spring.
Most asked questions about Dark Hendrickson
?Does the dark Hendrickson bite?
No. Mayflies cannot bite or sting, and the grown-ups do not even eat.
?Why is the dark Hendrickson important?
It only lives in clean water, so it shows that a stream is healthy. It is also food for trout.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ephemerella subvaria
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Ephemerellidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Ephemeroptera > Ephemerellidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Hendrickson mayfly, Red quill, Red quill spinner, Whirling dun
Where the facts come from
- Ephemerella subvaria (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Bob Henricks. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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