Tisa Mayfly

Palingenia longicauda · Order: Ephemeroptera · Family: Palingeniidae

Also called: Tisza Mayfly

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Tisa Mayfly
Photo: Jennifer Chow, CC BY-SA

The Tisza mayfly can reach about 12 cm from head to tail, making it the largest European mayfly. Adults stay close to water, flying low with their long tail-like cerci often touching the surface. Mass emergence occurs in a single week of mid-June, a phenomenon called the “blooming of the Tisza”.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Adult P. longicauda never flies far from water; they stay low and their cerci frequently sweep the surface.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

It can grow to about 12 cm (4.7 in) long, the biggest mayfly in Europe.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Larvae build mud tunnels, up to 400 per square metre.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Large numbers of larvae hatch and mature within a week in mid-June, creating the “blooming of the Tisza” tourist event.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

The mid-June emergence lasts about one week each year.

Source: Wikipedia

Questions people ask

When do Tisza mayflies appear?

They emerge in a single week of mid-June each year.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palingenia_longicauda

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.