Subject: Some sort of antlion?
Geographic location of the bug: Northern California
Date: 07/24/2019
Time: 12:27 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hello there! My dad was watering our plants outside and I guess managed to (accidentally!) shoot this guy right out of the air. He’s certainly had his bell rung, I’m taking care of him and hoping to let him go soon 🙂 But I’d like to know what he is as I’ve never seen anything like this creature before, and he’s BIG! I managed to find something called an “antlion” which he looks most like. Is that correct?
How you want your letter signed: McKinley
Dear McKinley,
This is not an Antlion. It looks to us like a California Fishfly or Western Dobsonfly, Neohermes californicus, which is pictured on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “appear to prefer streams (Chauliodes prefer still water)”