Subject: Dobsonfly
Location: 34.7791, -82.3564
April 19, 2017 7:45 pm
Hi Bugman,
I encountered this customer while monitoring frog calls at Lake Conestee nature park. It was around 2120 local time on April 19, 2017, roughly forty to fifty minutes after sunset. I was sitting on a wooden boardwalk/bridge over an area of weedy water. The wind was calm, and the temperature was around 18 degrees Celcius, or 291 K. The insect was irrisistably attracted to the luminescent emission of my advanced wireless communication device. I suspect that it is a Dobsonfly, specifically Corydalus cornutus. I would like a second opinion, however.
Thank you for your time,
Signature: A Biology Student
Spring Fishfly
Dear Biology Student,
You are mistaken, though this Spring Fishfly, Chauliodes rastricornis, is in the same family as the Eastern Dobsonfly. Spring Fishflies are much smaller than Dobsonflies and they have different antennae. According to BugGuide: “The antennae of females are serrate (saw-like) The comb-like, (pectinate) antennae of the males are quite obvious” meaning your Spring Fishfly is a male.
I like This
