Female Dobsonfly eats Blueberries and lays Eggs

bugman

August 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am

Categories

Eggs

Blueberries for Bailey
Hi, and thanks for such a wonderful website! Thanks to your site we were able to identify our dobsonfly. My boys named her Bailey. We’d also like to confirm that adult females do eat. I read they liked blackberries but having none I substitued blueberries and she does indeed like them. I have video of her mouthparts working the blueberry. She lives in this cage but freely comes and goes at will as the top of the cage is open. Our question is has she laid eggs? There is a frothy looking white patch in the third picture. Thanks a billion bugs!
Mary, Cal, and Cade
P.S. If these pics are too big I can resize them. I wasn’t sure what works best for you.

Hi Mary, Cal and Cade,
This is an exciting submission for us. We have always believed that adult Dobsonflies do not eat. We will see what Eric Eaton has to say about the blueberry diet. Additionally, we do believe Bailey has laid eggs. The Featured Creatures website states: “Eggs : Dobsonfly eggs are gray, cylindrical and a little less than 1.5 mm in length and 0.5 mm in width. They are laid in clusters (about 2 cm in diameter) with an average of approximately 1,000 eggs/cluster (Baker and Neunzig 1968, Mangan 1992.). The eggs are arranged in three layers, and the egg mass is covered with a clear fluid by a brushing motion of the tip of the female’s abdomen. The clear fluid dries to a white color. Superficially, the egg masses resemble large bird droppings. ” That seems like an accurate description of what your photo depicts.