#megalopteran

[pogomcl]

Alderfly, Sialidae Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/3.5 1/ 125 iso: 400 Srbsko, Czech Republic May 8, 2012

[vintagewildlife]

Alderfly By: Jane Burton From: Éditions Rencontre Cards 1976

[vintagewildlife]

Alderfly By: Unknown photographer From: Encyclopedia of the Animal World 1972

[knighttrainart-blog]

#dobsonfly #hellgrammite #Megalopteran

[sphenisciformes-spheniscus]

This is a Megalopteran larva found a couple meters from the bank of a large river! This one is from a Dobsonfly, which as an adult is a large, nocturnal, flying, pair of scissors (you’ll have to take my word for it or go look up a picture of the adults, because I don’t have any photos of one). 

These creepy buggers look like the stuff of nightmares (and are aptly called “Hellgrammites”), but their presence is an indicator of good river health, because they don’t survive well in polluted water. 

I can’t help but think of the “Ceti eel” from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan when I see these things. *Shudders*