If you’d live by the Tisza, June would be a month you can’t wait for – or the period around 10-20 June, called the flowering of Tisza.
So what is this plant that you may have never heard of?
The most beautiful plant insects
That’s right: no matter how locals call these creatures plants, they’re in fact mayflies with a rather poetic Latin name: Palingenia longicauda.
Being the largest mayflies in Europe, in colloquial English they’re plainly called long-tailed mayfly or giant mayfly.
You have seen them? That's a good sign!
Mayflies should really make the most of every single day (or the day to be more precise) and they do indeed: after growing for three years under the waves, they only live a few hours as adults. As many subimagines emerge from the water, they rapidly moult for the last time then start mating. After their metamorphosis they’re flying close to the surface of the water, making the river look like a beautiful carpet between the banks.
So, you can call yourself lucky to see the ‘flowering’ mayflies, but their presence is more than majestic sight.
Where else to find them?
More than a hundred years ago ‘Tisza flower’ could have been called ‘Rhine flower’ or ‘Loire flower’ too. They are, however, extinct in these European rivers and now they can be found only in the drainage basin of Tisza.
We want to make sure that these mayflies dazzle many generations after ours. Let’s keep Tisza clean for them!
One Response
I read your adventures about the mayflies. The Tisza is not the only location where you can see them. Last month I was in Rumania, near the Village Mila 23 in the Danube Delta. On several evenings we saw millions of mayflies, I think the scientific name is Ephoron virgo. A tremendous spectacle. Kind regards, Jacques van der Neut, Holland.