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7th grade river walk this afternoon, …
Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Left us wondering “who” this is. It was stationary, hanging onto the side of a small tree, 15 feet from the river that runs behind our school in VT. It looked to be 2 – 2.5 inches long.
Lisa
North Central VT, a couple of miles from the base of Mt Mansfield.

Giant Stonefly

Hi Lisa,
This is a Giant Stonefly in the family Pteronarcyidae.  The aquatic nymphs have gills and are found in streams and rivers and they eat aquatic vegetation.  We recently received an ID request that we did not post of a nymph, and we are going to try to locate it in the labyrinth of our email inbox.  Adult Giant Stoneflies do not feed.  Fishermen are fond of Giant Stoneflies as bait for trout and other freshwater fish.  You may learn more about Giant Stoneflies on BugGuide.  We are preparing your letter and photo in advance to post live to our site on Monday at noon since we will be out of the office for a week and not answering any new incoming mail.  We feel an obligation to our regular readership to continue to update on a daily basis in absentia.

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