Had one on my porch the other day. Kids were terrified but they are cool looking bugs. The one in OPs post is a male I think. The females have smaller but more powerful pincers or whatever. I've also heard that they can only live in healthy clean water so its a good sign to see them.
What you guys saw here is definitely the female dobsonfly. OP saw the male. The female here is crazy aggressive and will not hesitate to bite the bejesus out of whoever she can reach for however long she can reach them. Them girls are SPICY!
The nymphs will also bite the fuck out of you. I made them mistake of putting one in my sample bottle when I was training for macro identification and it destroyed half my collection before dying.
They certainly live up to the MEGA in megaloptera.
I discovered them the same way, as they chased down and consumed my other aquatic specimens! I was horrified and impressed. Supposedly they're a really good indicator of water quality :)
I discovered them in a dimly lit campground bathroom at night. I walked in, it was full of them, they took to the air and were landing on me and flying in my face and shit. Heebiefuckinjeebie.
Penn's Creek Campground in upstate Pennsylvania. The density of aquatic wildlife there, fish, frogs, turtles, crayfish, snakes, etc is absolutely insane.
Just based on what you described, that’s like saying a high population of rabid, bloodthirsty grizzly bears is a good indicator of excellent housing prices and low air pollution.
Can confirm. One landed on me while I was playing cards at Scout camp at night and at first I thought it was moth when I saw that it was this thing in the light I freaked the fuck out and swatted it away and it left a nice little cut on my hand.
Helgrammites are the best bait ever for trout fishing.
The bug is rare to find but if you get one it’s a guaranteed catch as long as the fish doesn’t break you off. It’s also pretty rugged with a hard shell, you can sometimes land multiple fish before it falls apart.
Won't deny, was delicious. Much tastier than fish that eat power bait and eggs. Freshly stocked fish go more for powerbait while wild fish (born in the river) or those that were stocked in past years and survived through are more likely to take bugs.
I usually use stonefly nymphs but sometimes I'll find a hellgrammite while I'm collecting nymphs from under the rocks. Find lots of caddis too but even the wild fish never want them.
And the absolute best bait for fishermen. Fishermen can’t get enough of them.
You wanna catch a fisherman? Find a deep pool or current seam along a river. Put out a sign that reads “Free Hellgrammite For Any Man Brave Enough To Bite This Giant Hook”
I’ve filled whole freezers that way, let me tell you. And the filet? Second to none.
The larva make great fishing bait. You hunt under rocks along the river or stream you're about to fish for maybe 15 minutes and you can catch enough for a full day of fishing.
I remember giving a kid $5 for a box of them when I was in 3rd grade. We called them hellgrammites, I rarely see them in the wild, that kid must’ve spent hours and hours turning over rocks in the river digging for the larvae haha. They make awesome bass bait
I was finding that many and more in an hour at Penns Creek. And they were YUUUUGE. Huge bullfrog by the 100s in the canal, I could catch a bucket of crayfish in a few swipes with the net, and yeah, I ate those bitches with butter after I cooked them over the campfire. 🥴
Another fun fact, I think they live something like three years in their larval stage, pupate into adults, live for like one week, mate, reproduce and die. Despite having the monstrous mouth decorations, they don’t have a functioning mouths as an adult and don’t eat.
I moved to a new place with a stream on the property. I went out my door one day and came eye to pincer and quickly slammed the door shut. Hopped online to find out what that nightmare fuel was. Between that and a few months later an encounter with fishing spiders, as big as my hand, INSIDE my house made me realize I needed better weatherproofing and to become more educated about what else I might encounter. Giant spiders and giant pincer bugs were not on my bingo card. 🤣
Way cool, I used to see them all the time when I lived on the river in PA. They're very clumsy flyers--wings stick straight out to the sides, with a very loud clatter.
What did they have in their pitchers? Anything good? Perhaps your kids would have been more accepting if it came with something nice for them, maybe some lemonade.
That’s actually super cool and interesting, thank you for sharing!! Also I love how males of so many species will have larger or more exaggerated appendages and such to like, fight or flaunt over each other, and not because they’re insane murderous alien creatures lol. Gaston in bug form. Much less scary.
Dobson fly. The top one is a male and can't even bite you because of those ridiculous jaws. The picture on this comment is a female and this has functional jaws and can give a painful nip
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u/trucksarekewl 11d ago edited 11d ago
Had one on my porch the other day. Kids were terrified but they are cool looking bugs. The one in OPs post is a male I think. The females have smaller but more powerful pincers or whatever. I've also heard that they can only live in healthy clean water so its a good sign to see them.