---
title: "Giant Mayfly"
description: "Hexagenia limbata — Insecten en spinnen. Hexagenia limbata, the giant mayfly, is a species of mayfly in the family Ephemeridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/giant-mayfly
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Giant Mayfly

> Hexagenia limbata — Insecten en spinnen. Hexagenia limbata, the giant mayfly, is a species of mayfly in the family Ephemeridae.

- Scientific name: *Hexagenia limbata*
- Category: `insects` (Insecten en spinnen)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 20713
- Wikidata: [Q10523769](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10523769)
- iNaturalist taxon: [51116](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51116)

## Names

- en: Giant Mayfly

## Countries with the most observations

US (2190), CA (441), MX (9)

## Summary

Hexagenia limbata, the giant mayfly, is a species of mayfly in the family Ephemeridae. It is native to North America where it is distributed widely near lakes and slow-moving rivers. The larvae, known as nymphs, are aquatic and burrow in mud and the adult insects have brief lives. They are often referred to as fish flies around the Great Lakes as they tend to cause the areas around water to smell like rotten fish.
It's also called the golden mayfly, big Michigan mayfly and great leadwing drake.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagenia_limbata

## Photo

![Giant Mayfly](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/giant-mayfly/medium.jpg)

Photo: Schyler Brown · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/78246523

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/giant-mayfly?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).