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Eastern Dobsonfly (Corydalus cornutus) female. The adult dobsonfly is a large insect up to 140 millimetres long with a wingspan of up to 125 millimetres. [8] The female has short powerful mandibles of a similar size to those of the larva while the mandibles of the male are sickle-shaped and up to 40 millimetres long, half as long as the body. [1]
The origin of the word "dobsonfly" is unclear. John Henry Comstock used the term in reference to these insects in his 1897 book Insect Life, [1] but did not explain it. He also mentioned that anglers used the word "hellgrammite" for the aquatic larvae they used as bait, but the origin of this term is also unknown.
The eastern dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus, is the most well-known North American species among the dobsonflies. These genera have distinctive elongated mandibles in males and form the subfamily Corydalinae. The genera in which the males have normal mandibles, called fishflies, form the subfamily Chauliodinae.
Corydalus is a transliteration from the Greek κορδαλος (korúdalos) [3] meaning a crested lark or the flower, larkspur, apparently related to Greek corys (κορυς) a helmet crest. [4]
A wild collected female kept at the Insect Museum of West China in Chengdu was the record holder with a total length, including extended legs, of 62.4 cm (24.6 in), and a body length of 36.1 cm (14.2 in), [16] [17] but it was surpassed by one of its captive bred young that reached 64 cm (25 in) in total length.
The female may lay up to 3,000 eggs in a single mass, placing them on vegetation overhanging water. Megaloptera undergo the most rudimentary form of complete metamorphosis among the insects. There are fewer differences between the larval and adult forms of Megaloptera than in any other order of holometabolous insects, and their aquatic larvae ...
Protohermes grandis is a species of dobsonfly occurring in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, as well as South and North America, South Africa, Madagascar, Australia, and New Zealand. [1] They are closely related to P. immaculatus. [2] They are the smallest species of Protohermes fly. [2]
Archichauliodes diversus is the only member of the genus (and family) found in New Zealand where it is endemic and common throughout both the North and South Islands. [4] [5] It is common in streams nationwide, with moderate to good water quality, and has tolerance values of 7 (hard bottom sites) and 7.3 (soft bottom sites).