Hellgrammite

Hi, My girlfriend and I stopped to get gas in Connecticut, when I got out to start pumping I noticed this thing… slowly crawling around. It was between 3 and 4 inches long and moved rather slowly. Six legs, large ant-like head but a centipede like body. No antannae but large mandible looking things. We looked around and there were about 10 or so of them roaming around in various parts of the gas station lot. I came home and did some web searching trying to figure out what it was but was quite unsuccessful. The closest similiar descriptions I have found seem to be of the Protura order, but they are typically very small, and the bug I spotted did not have a cone shaped head. I came across your site and went through the bugs featured on it, with no luck. I returned after my failed web searches to snap the above picture, it had stopped raining, and this was the only one I could find.
What is this thing? Michael

Dear Michael,
Definitely a Hellgrammite, the larva of the Dobson Fly. We have photos of adults on our site, and would love to post your photo with the letter. I just received another letter from someone who spotted one at her cabin in Virginia, but I had no image to show her.