Mayfly Species Drunella cornutella (Small Blue-Winged Olives)

Few anglers can claim to have fished to hatches of this little olive mayfly, even though the species has been mentioned in popular angling entomologies like Caucci and Nastasi's Hatches or Knopp and Cormier's Mayflies. On many of the larger Eastern freestones, their emergence happens after the waters have warmed and dedicated anglers have turned their attention to streams that remain cold: headwaters, spring creeks, or tailwaters. Because good populations are usually not found in tiny streams, it is on some the Eastern tailwaters, like the branches of the Delaware, that fly fishers take notice of this species.

Drunella cornutella looks like a Mini-Me version of Drunella cornuta. In streams where the two species cohabit, size is the only easy way to tell them apart. Although there is some slight overlap between the largest cornutella and the smallest cornuta, the average difference is usually pretty obvious. Both share very similar coloration and morphology in all stages, even down to the little curved horns coming out of the frontal shelves of the nymph's heads.