Mayflies date from the Carboniferous and Permian times and are the oldest of the extant (still living) winged insects
“Fly fast, mate quickly, die young.” If mayflies had a motto, that would probably be it. That’s because these elegant insects have among the shortest adult lives of any insect.
In some mayfly species, summer emergence of winged stages is a sudden and dramatic event that occurs almost simultaneously throughout the entire population. These mass emergences are often regarded as a major nuisance. The insects are attracted to city lights and blown inland by the wind. Their dead bodies pile up in drifts on porches and windowsills; they plaster car windshields and slicken highways. Europeans are often more sanguine than Americans about mass emergences — in some communities the dead insects are diligently gathered up, dried, and sold as bird food, fish bait, or fertilizer
In northeast Iowa, they even show up on National Weather Service radar.