What kind of bug is this?

[CarpinMNRiver]

I was ice fishing and a bunch of these popped up the ice hole. I figured the trout guys know their bugs the best so just curious if anyone has an idea of what it is. I think the fish liked them as I had active crappies and sunfish until a little after midnight.

[mixxedbagg]

Looks kind of like a helgrammite. If it is, fish love them.

[Ufatz]

Dragon (Dobson) fly nymph.

Go ahead.....pick it up. I double-dare ya!!

[goblueM]

Dragon (Dobson) fly nymph.

Go ahead.....pick it up. I double-dare ya!!

dragonfly nymphs are NOT dobson flies - and this is neither

[BRULEDRIFTER]

It's an Alder fly larvae, which is in the same family as the Dobson fly (Hellgrammite). Dobson and Alder flies are definitely NOT dragon flies. Completely different!

[Ufatz]

So you are saying a Dobson fly is NOT the same thing that is also CALLED a Dragonfly?

This stuff can get awfully technical as you know and perhaps my tired old mind is just wearing out. I seem to recall that what people call a helgrammite IS a Dragon fly nymph and there is a whole family of similar critters.

Whatever. Nasty looking little buggers fer sure.

[Stringerless!]

You should see the adult male ! Wife and I saw one in the parking lot Of Interstate State Park last year. Never in my life of 49 years seen anything like it ! Looked like it came straight from the surface of the moon. The females are the ones that can bite though. Google dobson fly. The 1 we found was about 9 inches long !! I asked the college kid checking boats if he new what it was and he had never seen one before either.

[goblueM]

So you are saying a Dobson fly is NOT the same thing that is also CALLED a Dragonfly?

This stuff can get awfully technical as you know and perhaps my tired old mind is just wearing out. I seem to recall that what people call a helgrammite IS a Dragon fly nymph and there is a whole family of similar critters.

Whatever. Nasty looking little buggers fer sure.

dragonfly:

dobsonfly (larval stage is known as a hellgrammite)

they aren't in the same family and I'm not even sure they are in the same order

[CarpinMNRiver]

Wow those are scary looking.

I guess that one does look the same.

[Ufatz]

Okay, got it. Stand corrected. Pictures did it. Mind back in order. Thanks.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Where are these insects found? Wouldn't mind finding one for myself.

[MN BassFisher]

When I was in my Freshwater Ecology class at Saint Cloud, we would go out into rivers and streams and sample them with kicknets and dipnets. We found a few in some smaller streams and they were always found near the rocks in riffles.

[flyfisher03]

If you found it in a lake though more than likely I'd go with a dragon fly nymph, also by looking at the pictures there are no noticeable antenna on the dobson-fly where the dragonflies do. It would be a lot easier to identify if it were in water.

A good online bug guide that I used quite a bit in entomology class last fall is bugguide.net

[mixxedbagg]

I remember seeing dobsonflies as a kid in Illinois. Really neat, but kind of scary looking. Wikipedia has some interesting facts:

Quote:

The Dobsonfly, also known as "The King Bug" for its kingly features and intimidating tusks, is an insect of the subfamily Corydalinae, part of the megalopteran family Corydalidae. The most well-known species is Corydalus cornutus, the eastern dobsonfly. This is a long, dark-colored insect found in North and Central America. Their closest relatives are the fishflies.

Both male and female dobsonflies can reach lengths up to five inches (12.5 cm), measured from the tips of their pincers to the tips of their four wings. Their wingspans can be twice as long as their body length. The wings are densely lined with intersecting veins. When not in use, the wings are folded along the length of their walkingstick-like bodies. Dobsonflies have segmented antennae similar to ants and wasps.

Though both male and female dobsonflies have sharp mandibles, those of an adult male dobsonfly are actually so big – up to 1 inch (25 mm) – that they are unable to harm humans, as they have such poor leverage that they are incapable of breaking the skin. Their mandibles are used exclusively during mating, where males show them off and grasp the females during copulation. Female dobsonflies, however, retain the short, powerful pincers they had as larvae, so they can inflict painful bites, which can draw blood. Not withstanding the males' inability to inflict harm, when threatened both sexes will raise their heads and spread their jaws menacingly. They are not poisonous, but possess an irritating, foul-smelling anal spray as a last-ditch defense.

Dobsonflies spend most of their life in the larval stage, during which they are called hellgrammites, and are familiar to anglers who like to use the large larvae as bait. Hellgrammites live under rocks at the bottoms of lakes, streams and rivers, and prey on other insect larvae with the short sharp pincers on their heads, with which they can also inflict painful bites on humans. The larvae reach to 2" to 3" in length, with gills all along the sides of their segmented bodies that allow them to breathe underwater. Their gills, primitive nervous systems, and hard, segmented bodies mean that once hooked, hellgrammites can survive for long periods wiggling underwater. In the Appalachians, children catch these for fishing bait as a test of courage, working their fingers into the mud under rocks until a hellgrammite bites, then grabbing the creature with the other hand and throwing it into a jar. A less painful way to catch them is to stretch a mesh net across a narrow point in the stream, forcing the net to the bottom, then have others upstream turn over rocks and disturb the creek bottom, forcing the hellgrammites into the streamflow so they are carried into the net, whence they can be plucked and put into bait buckets.

After a few years of living and growing underwater, the larvae crawl out onto land and pupate. They stay in their cocoons over the winter and emerge only to mate. Upon emerging, they live for only seven days. While not generally believed to eat during their adult stage, some captive female specimens have been observed with their heads burrowed into blackberries.

Adults can generally be found from late spring into the middle of summer, preferring to remain near bodies of water, particularly the ones where they grew up. Once they emerge as adults they mate, deposit their eggs near the water (often on overhanging vegetation), then die. They are primarily nocturnal, and like most aquatic insects, are commonly attracted to bright lights.