A bonus post today … a glittering golden star for your pleasure and delight. This is actually quite a common insect, by name the Giant (Burrowing) Mayfly (Hexagenia limbata) … rather small for a giant, but that’s what it goes by. Those colours don’t look real, but I assure that’s what it looks like.
(Quote): Hexagenia limbata is a major contributor to ecosystem function, water quality monitoring, and the fly-fishing community. In its range, where it often occurs at high densities, the species constitutes a substantial proportion of aquatic biomass. In all life stages, Hexagenia limbata is a significant prey item for many fish species and other invertebrates. Hexagenia limbata is important for nutrient cycling as it removes significant biomass from the freshwater systems it inhabits when it emerges en masse. Much of that biomass is then reintroduced to the terrestrial environment.
IO’d love to have you unpack that movement of biomass stuff for a layman, and especially the implied judgment of this movement from your source.