day5 0 Report post Posted July 6, 2007 Ok so I was in the back yard tonight watering the lawn and I saw the biggest crane fly lumbering in flight. It landed and almost reminded me of a skinny stone fly of sorts. I live 3 miles form the nearest stream or lake. SO I'm sure that it is not aquatic. what is it? Ive never seen one before. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2007 Matt, I cant say what it is, but would like to know myself...because we have some that are very close to that upnorth at the cabin in the summer and I have always wondered what they were. Not sure how big that one you saw was, but the ones up at the cabin are between 3"- 3.5" long Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taxon 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2007 day5 & steeldrifter- The Order is Neuroptera (Antlions, Lacewings and Allies), and Family is Myrmeleontidae (Antlions). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
day5 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2007 SD this one was 2 inches long and was the goofiest flying thing I have ever seen. Taxon are they aquatic nymphs? I supose I can look that up my self to. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taxon 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2007 Taxon are they aquatic nymphs? I supose I can look that up my self to. No, day5, they are strictly terrestrial. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSzymczyk 0 Report post Posted July 14, 2007 D5 the creature you photographed- an adult "antlion"- it's larvae usually live in sandy areas where they dig down and create a sandy "funnel" shaped depression. they bury themselves in the middle and leave their fairly wicked jaws ready to snap. When an ant or other insect slides down into the funnel trap, they snatch it and eat it. Science fiction movies haven't come close to the things that truly go on in the real insect world.... but one of the star wars movies had people being thrown into a pit in the desert where some monster was buried in the bottom- pretty much the same thing as an antlion. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ethan Bright 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2007 The picture is an owlfly (Neuroptera: Ascalaphidae), perhaps Ululodes? (As already stated, it's not a dragonfly: note 1) wings are folded behind the back, which odonates cannot do; and 2) long, multi-segmented antennae, where they are minute in Odonata). Life stages of all North American Neuroptera, including the owlfly above, are terrestrial, BUT the most (phylogenetically) basal group of Neuroptera, the Nevrorthidae (found in the Mediterranean, eastern Asia, and Australia), have aquatic larvae (and some pupae). They are found among aquatic vegetation and under rocks in swift-moving streams, and I suspect ancestrally the group radiated into a fully terrestrial environment. Grimaldi and Engel's 2005 book (Evolution of the Insects, which I highly recommend) has some lovely pictures of fossil and living Neuropterans. Cheers, Ethan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
J.Z 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2007 well, the only thing that i can add is that if i wasn't a flyfisherman, i would have slipped it on a hook and thrown it out to the fishies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
