Majave River
Location: Mojave River, Southern Califorina
July 4, 2011 3:40 pm
We were at the Mojave River and saw this bug in the water. It kinda looks like a larva of some sort, but in all honesty i have no idea what it is and was hoping you would be able to identify it for us.
Thanks for your time
Signature: The Green Family
Hellgrammite
Dear Green Family,
This is the larva of a Dobsonfly, commonly called a Hellgrammite. Most of our specimens are of the Eastern Dobsonfly, though several species are known to range in California, however they are not well documented. This is one of the Western Dobsonflies. See BugGuide for additional information.
¶ Posted 05 July 2011 § ‡ ° Tattooed Bug?
Location: South Texas Hill country
July 3, 2011 2:26 pm
My husband found this creature on the underside of a rock in the Guadalupe River this summer. We had never seen anything quite like it and our kids think it looks like it has been tattooed. It is about 3 inches long.
Signature: The Walling Family
Hellgrammite
Dear Walling Family,
This incredible creature is called a Hellgrammite, and it is the larval form of the Dobsonfly.
¶ Posted 03 July 2011 § ‡ ° Unfortunate circumstances in need of creature identification
June 5, 2011 8:49 pm
Dear Bugman,
I found this creature alongside the winooski river in winooski, Vermont a few days ago. I found him out of water but moving very little. I attempted to instigate a fight between this behemoth we dearly call “Petunia” and a wolf spider. To my dismay there was no battle. Petunia retreated to a small pool of water and became more active.
Perplexed by this creature I have adopted Petunia and am attempting to find out what to feed her. It may appear that she eats ants as she destroyed one when introduced to her pool.
However due to her gills, which are on both sides of her below her legs, I am unsure if she is even an insect. Bugman I hope you can solve this mystery as Petunia must be getting hungry by now.
After writing you this letter I have realized I cannot attach images to your website from my iPhone and unfortunately it as all the internet access we have at my residence. If you respond I will send you the picture as an attachment with due haste.
Signature: Jack D
Hellgrammite
Dear Jack,
This is a Hellgrammite, the predatory larva of a Dobsonfly.
¶ Posted 06 June 2011 § ‡ ° found this while camping
Location: North eastern PA in woods
May 29, 2011 5:36 pm
Hi, we found this bug at Promised Land State Park in PA. It was a moist morning and our neighbor found it on the cabin porch. He took a stick and was going to move it when it crawled on the stick but the darn thing started to fight with the stick!!
It was about 3-4” long and later when I tried to move it, it backed straight back like an inch worm goes forward.
Can you identify this critter?? thank you very much
Signature: Sue Sacks
Hellgrammite
Dear Sue,
We have no shortage of images and information on Hellgrammites on our website, and we hope you will do additional research using our excellent search engine since that will provide you with some specifics on this fascinating larval form of the Dobsonfly. We love your observation regarding the Hellgrammite defending itself against the stick.
¶ Posted 30 May 2011 § ‡ ° puzzled in Pa?
Location: western Pa
May 22, 2011 10:00 pm
My boyfriend and I were out walking along the shore of the Ligonier Creek in western Pa, we spotted a nice location to sit and talk on a couple of larger rocks. My boyfriend picked up a smaller rock to skip across the creek when we came accross this insect. We both love being outdoors but we never saw a bug like this before. So we picked it up put it in a container and brought it home with us for further analysis. WE ARE STUMPED!! Can you help? We would like to release it back into the wild tomorrow. Thanks alot!
Signature: puzzled in Pa
Hellgrammite
Dear puzzled in Pa,
This is a Hellgrammite, the larval form of a Dobsonfly. If you think this larva is impressive, you should check out some images of adult male Dobsonflies in our archive.
¶ Posted 23 May 2011 § ‡ ° 6 legs, large jaws, spikes over a long body
Location: Riverdale NJ (northest US)
May 19, 2011 7:36 am
Dear Bug,
I found this odd looking bug alog some railroad ties out back. He was very agressive (opening jaws) as we managed to catch him. I’ve never seen anything like this and was hoping you can identify his species and if we need be concerned of our son and his friends playing out back. Thanks, Bugfinder
Signature: Paul
Thank you! Forgot to mention he/she is exactly 3 inches log from tip of jaw to end of tail!
Hellgrammite
Hi Paul,
This is a Hellgrammite, the larval form of the Dobsonfly. Despite all of our efforts, we have been unable to trace the origin of the name Hellgrammite, which nonetheless seems a very appropriate name for this unforgettable insect.
¶ Posted 19 May 2011 § ‡ ° what type of water bug is this?
Location: Mariposa, California (Sierra Nevada)
May 12, 2011 12:03 am
Found this in our creek and called it a water centipede because it resembles a regular centipede so much. It has pretty big mandibles and tried to give a bite when picked out of the water.
Rarely ever see these around here. What is it?
Signature: Aiden
Hellgrammite
Hi Aiden,
You have encountered the predatory larva of one of the members of the family Corydalidae, the Dobsonflies and Fishflies. The larva of the Eastern Dobsonfly is known as a Hellgrammite, and though this is not the Eastern Dobsonfly, we feel the common name Hellgrammite should still apply. We will try to determine the species.
¶ Posted 12 May 2011 § ‡ ° Scaley bug with pinchers on head?
Location: Hector, Arkansas
May 2, 2011 2:05 am
We ran across this bug at a Girl Scout campout. It cause quite the commotion as it was in one of the bath houses and most of the little girls wanted to squish it. (No, we did not allow that!) Other girls were facinated by this creepy crawly. All of us adults just want to know what is that big?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Signature: ~Jen from Arkansas
Hellgrammite
Hi Jen,
This formidable larva is known as a Hellgrammite, and it will eventually metamorphose into the fierce looking, bug harmless Dobsonfly, a flying giant with substantial mandibles. You can find countless images of both Dobsonflies and Hellgramites on our website including this one.
¶ Posted 02 May 2011 § ‡ ° 
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