Lasting But a Day

Last week on my way into the office, a co-worker asked me, as we waited for the elevator, "Did you see all those winged bugs on the Humana building?" I have to admit I'm a bit oblivious when walking from my parking garage to work. Call it paranoia, but I'm more aware of my human surroundings than any buglike creatures that may be flying around my head.

As I left that day, I was more alert and found gobs of these winged insects everywhere - dead. Not being an outdoorsy girl, I was perplexed. They looked a lot like a Dragonfly, but I think if there had been a Dragonfly swarm in downtown Louisville, I would have heard that on the local news.

The next day I asked one of my faithful employees if they noticed the lifeless winged creatures all over the place and he, being knowledgeable on many topics, solved the mystery. They are Mayflies. They live and breed near water and, given our office's close location to the Ohio River, they had found a new landing pad along First Street. My co-worker was quick to admit his wisdom came from baiting fishing lines with Mayflies, not his entomologistic tendencies.

The interesting thing about these insects, aside from the fact that they are annoying and run in packs, is they only live for about 24 hours. This order gets it name from the Greek word ephemeros meaning "lasting but a day." Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "My how time flies...."