ID Please!!

[TheOneThatGotAway]

wat regions of the us can u find these bugs can they be found in southern california or arizona?

I'm in NJ and we get them all the time.

They are pretty nasty. Even their larvae are huge (about 3 - 4 in) and hurt like a mother if they bite. They're called HELLgrammites for a reason, I guess. Though, apparently there's a difference between a hellgrammite, a dobsonfly, and an alderfly, but my ecology teacher never told us what that was.

Wow, this is the first ID post I've actually known for sure on this site XD

 

[krzr3000]

I think insects are underrated, considering if they were human size they would be way more scary than dinosaurs. But i would still not get near one of those, and will most likely end up seeing one soon after viewing this thread...always seems to happen.

 

[CTU2fan]

Never been tagged by one of those...I've gotten bit by a giant water bug though and that hurt like hell, then went numb for a day.

 

[Noto]

wat regions of the us can u find these bugs can they be found in southern california or arizona?

There are dobsonflies in the southwest, though they are a different species than the one found in the east. The genus Corydalus has about 30 species altogether, distributed from southern Canada to northern Argentina. Only the males have the elongate mandibles. They really can't bite very hard; the mandibles are for display and wrestling with other males. The females and larvae (hellgramites), with their short, thick mandibles, are more dangerous. They only bite defensively though, so if you just leave them alone you'll be fine.