Dark Olive Spinners
Like most common names, "Dark Olive Spinner" can refer to more than one taxon. They're previewed below, along with 2 specimens. For more detail click through to the scientific names.
These are sometimes called Dark Olive Spinners.
When
Selective Trout was first published in 1971, Swisher and Richards included
Drunella lata (Small Blue-Winged Olive, Slate-Winged Olive) as a Midwestern "superhatch." Although it can also be found in many Eastern trout streams, it is probably more important to Midwestern anglers. Typically a morning emerger, this species often competes for the attention of trout with more abundant
Tricorythodes and small baetids during parts of July and August. For this reason, the authors of
Selective Trout considered the concentrated evening spinner falls to be more important than the somewhat sporadic morning emergence. From an angling standpoint, this situation is nearly the opposite of the earlier
Drunella cornuta emergence in the East, where the morning emergence is usually the main event and spinner falls are often of little consequence.
Currently,
Drunella lata shares its name with another mayfly, the former
D. longicornis. That mayfly can be important in mountainous areas in the Southeast, but they are larger and the nymphs lack the distinctive pale markings mentioned in the Juvenile Characteristics section. (The information on this page does not describe
D. longicornis)
These are very rarely called Dark Olive Spinners.
This intriguing species has received a lot of attention in past angling books. Recent authors suspect that much of this credit was a case of mistaken identity, with
Attenella attenuata receiving praise for the hatches of
Drunella lata and
Dannella simplex. Much of the credit
was legitimate and accurate, but this species is no longer thought to be on par with its most popular cousins in
Ephemerella and
Drunella.
I have several specimens listed under this species, but I'm not positive the identification is correct.
These are very rarely called Dark Olive Spinners.
These are very rarely called Dark Olive Spinners.
Although by no means a superhatch, this species can be important. Authors who discuss it lament the general lack of credit it receives for the fine hatches it produces on some streams.