Hi, Mr. Nature here–with a male dobsonfly that has seen better days, but still looks scary.
Legend has it that this insect got its name from a Mrs. Hortense Dobson, who discovered one inside her jump suit and invented several energetic dances while trying to get it out.
When I was 12 years old or so, I found a box on the ground with an enormous dobsonfly in it. You don’t forget that!
Despite their fearsome appearance, these critters are completely harmless and their larvae, called helgrammites, are highly esteemed as fish bait. The larvae look even scarier than the adults.
Isn’t Creation wonderful? God never runs out of ideas.
Yes, I have seen several of these critters, and my husband used to take
helgrammites fishing often. Rather strange looking things, but then, there are a lot of odd looking things out there. Enough to keep us interested for a long time.
Lee, when I lived in North Florida for a few years, we had a couple of bugs that were vicious! One had several names – velvet ant, cow killer, wingless wasp. What a horrid bite! And the other, which also had a nasty sting, was called an assassin bug. Both of these creepy crawlers had awful bites, and the velvet ant was said to bring cows down with its sting.
I always said North Florida (the Gulf coast) had bugs that haven’t even been named yet.
Linda, I’ve been thinking of doing a post about the velvet ant, which is actually a wingless wasp. I’ve heard their sting packs a wallop.
As for the assassin bug, the bug I know by that name is very small and seems unlikely to do any harm. But that’s why there are official scientific names–we make be talking about two different bugs.
Here’s the one I’m referring to:
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/wheel_bug.htm
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/wheel_bug01.jpg
Well, yeah, that looks like a good one to avoid!
I think the insect I was thinking of is also called the ambush bug. It hides in flowers and grabs aphids and hoppies.
Yep. It delivers a nasty bite! And it’s not the prettiest bug either lol. But the velvet ant, on the other hand, is really quite a beautiful creature albeit with a nasty bite.
South Florida has one of the most adorable spiders. Maybe one day Mr. Nature will do a post on her – she’s the Spiny Orb Weaver. Fascinating web she weaves and an adorable little spider.
Mr. Nature is always looking for new critters to showcase, so maybe he’ll feature Ms. Orb Weaver tomorrow.
Please note how careful I am not to let Joe Collidge take over Mr. Nature’s spot.
And it’s MUCH appreciated! 🙂
That Dobsonfly looks like a veteran, and he wasn’t about to be captured. Who knows what their consciousness is like, but obviously it knows enough to deal with a curious child.
All of God’s works are wonderful.
Wow! What an interesting looking critter!