Male Dobsonfly
July 10, 2009
I live near the Susquehanna river in NE Pennsylvania and often visit with my camera. Today I went down after work, dropped my camera bag on the bank and went to work photographing wildflowers.
I turned back to my bag in time to see this guy crawling up to the top, where he latched onto the handle and proceeded to flap his wings furiously (thus the motion blur, sorry). Seriously, I think he was humping my bag. I’m wondering if he mistook my hairclip for a female
I took a few shots, then found a stick and shooed him away. And of course, took a few shots of him on the ground. That one is blurry because I am a chicken and didn’t want to get too close.
Jeanne
Northeastern PA

Male Dobsonfly

Hi Jeanne,
We already posted two Dobsonfly images today, but your letter is so wonderful and you photo is so great, we really needed to add it to our site as well.  Thanks for an excellent contribution.

Large winged moth like thing with big pincery bits
Jul 11, 2009
Large winged moth like thing with big pincery bits
This is Arnold, who is larger than the palm of my hand and turned up every night at about 8pm when it was dark and the light was on, and seemed to really like landing on me. The pincery bits don’t appear to be mandibles, and are quite hard to the touch. Arnold brought his wife along one night, and she lacked the pincers. I have never seen anything like this, and would love to know what you think!
Leigh McIvor
Cloud Forest, 2000m.a.s North Western Ecuador

Male Dobsonfly Fly from Ecuador

Hi Leigh,
Arnold is a male Dobsonfly.  Though we are uncertain of the exact species in Ecuador, it seems that Dobsonflies from around the world are quite easily identified.  Your photo showing the spread wings is quite impressive.

giant 5″, beetle-like bug with long mandibles, 6 legs and 4 glassy clear and black wings
Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 10:56 AM
he or she is clinging on the wall outside our office in Indianapolis, in the shade, it’s about 95 degrees outside. When agitated with a paper, it bites at the paper with mandibles, but doesn’t fly away. It moved over to the edge of the column away from the paper after a while. It did not move it’s wings at all, but would move it’s head, articulating on the long neck.
My guess is some kind of North American Stag Beetle? Maybe it’s moulting or something and doesn’t want to use it’s wings?
Disappointed I can’t use “Green or Brown, depending on if I’ve watered.” as the answer to the human test.
Alex in Indy
Indianapolis, IN, USA

Dobsonfly

Hi Alex,
We have been away for several days attending a wonderful outdoor wedding in the redwood forest in Mendocino. While there we saw our very first live Banana Slug, though we did not photograph it. We will talk to our web host about the human question on our form. This is actually a male Dobsonfly. We have recently posted several images of female Dobsonflies with their smaller mandibles as well as an image of an immature Hellgrammite. The male Dobsonfly, according to the information we have read, uses his mandibles to compete for a mate, but we have never seen photo documentation to that effect.

locust like with very long pincers
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 6:38 PM
We found a live bug in the trees of the North Georgia Mountains. It is 4 and 1/4 inches long with long, external, transparent wings, marked with black “sketches” to look like birch bark. It has what appears to be two sets of small mandibles, one set it straight and the other curved. It also has a pair of very long, thin, 2 inch mandible like peices that resemble calipers and cross in front. Its head is large, thick and ziggurat shaped. The bug also has a strong rotting oder. (It is very alive and kicking however–not dead!) I appologize for the condition of the photo–I don’t have a great zoom on my camera. Thanks so much for your help!
Heather Johnston
Elijay, North Georgia Mountians

Male Dobsonfly

Hi Heather,
The descriptiveness and entertainment value of your letter more than makes up for the blurriness of your photo. This is a male Dobsonfly who can be distinguished from the female by his caliper-like mandibles. Though they look quite fierce, they actually are incapable of biting. The female is the biter. The mandibles of the male are used, according to what we have read, in the mating process or in the competition for the mate. We would love to see photo documentation of that. We have just recently posted several photos of female Dobsonflies and a photo of the closely related Giant Fishfly, so your letter is a welcome addition to our site. The Dobsonfly is one of our most common summer identification requests.

Thank you for your response.  It is particularly good to know that the dobsonfly does not wield those mandibles on hikers!
Much appreciation,
Heather Johnston

Moth?
Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Hi Lisa and Daniel,
I can’t figure out if this is a lacewing or a moth or neither (the antennae are throwing me off). I researched numerous images online but can’t find a picture of it. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Katherine Gividen
Tylertown, Mississippi

Summer Fishfly

Hi Katherine,
This is a Summer Fishfly, Chauliodes pectinicornis, which differs from the related Dobsonfly in that the Summer Fishfly has combed or pectinate antennae while those of Dobsonflies are threadlike or beadlike.  Both insects are in the order Megaloptera and the Family Corydalidae.   According to BugGuide:  “Larvae aquatic, omnivorous: detritivores, or herbivores, also predatory on other invertebrates.  Larvae tend to live in calm bodies of water with lots of detritus. Larvae leave the water to pupate under bark, inside rotting logs. Pupation takes approximately 10 days. Adults emerge to mate, live perhaps a week. There appears to be just one flight per year, and the life cycle may be just one year, though older references quote a 2-3 year life cycle. Eggs are laid in masses on vegetation near still bodies of water. Larvae hatch and crawl to water. “  We will be posting your letter and photo between tow letters and photos of Dobsonflies for comparison.