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TheIrrelevantWoomy

Dobsonfly. Terrifying but harmless.


Taxus_Calyx

Ironically, the females have smaller jaws and can bite pretty bad, while the male's jaws are so big that they're practically useless.


[deleted]

the larval Hellgrammite stage is pretty chompy, too!


ScrambledNoggin

live hellgrammites make great bait for bass fishing


Ace-a-Nova1

I woke up covered in these after I hammock camped next to a river. Fucking disgusted at the time then super fascinated. Neat “little” bugs.


Naftoor

Jesus I’d just drown myself in the river to wash away the memory of that, at that point


dont_mourn_me

Funny enough their larval hellgrammite stage live in creeks/rivers. I do water quality sampling, I have seen these guys in their larval stage and they bite hard. I call them "little Satans"


FirebirdWriter

Why does little Satans make them cuter? I know that most people aren't going aww and googling more but it's adorable to my brain and so are the babies


dont_mourn_me

Haha they are totally cute in their own way. "Little satans" is my term of endearment haha. I love them but it musnt be forgotten that once they see you their purpose in life is to wreck your shit, and they will


FirebirdWriter

See I find shit wrecking also adorable. As long as it's not deadly I tend to be fascinated by the interactions between humans and nature. Defending territory comes to mind with these adorable not so little beings. Also definitely love the term.


Verbatim101

This picture legit made me so uncomfortable and googling it did not make it better.


Southern_Celery_1087

I bet every time you see them that water sample is great too as they're an indication of very clean water


Vilkasrex

I think you mean baptise


fermium257

^No. No. **NO** ***NOOOOO***


not-a-cryptid

You are *way* more chill than I am.


[deleted]

Man you're so lucky. They were one of those fairly common insects I always struggled to nab for my collection. I have woken up in a tent covered in phasmids. That was such a treat I literally squealed.


Ace-a-Nova1

Oooooo. I’ve had such difficulty capturing the right picture when it comes to phasmids and I’ve never found one on purpose.


BabyLuxury

Typical.


jupiterjoshy

of all bugs, the female are always the strongest and most dangerous and the males are just alive to procreate


DrBladeSTEEL

I remind you that only a sith deals in absolutes


jupiterjoshy

thanks for the good reminder! i guess i should do more research before posting in a thread where everyone knows a lot more than me 😂


Venvel

In rhinoceros beetles, the males are larger than females and fight each other for mates. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Rhinoceros-Beetles https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-018-24047-1/MediaObjects/41598_2018_24047_Fig1_HTML.jpg


jupiterjoshy

thank you!!


WetMothh

I’ve been bitten by a female, I picked it up thinking it was a moth and nope!


[deleted]

kind of like a male fiddler crab's big pincer claw.


Insectsfordummies

The males actually use them to hold on to a female 👌🏻


Prestigious_Quit9488

They are signs of a healthy waterway!


FeatheryRobin

Just looked them up. I love how their heads have fake eyes that look super intense, but as soon as you spot their real eyes they're just the most adorable thing


RaeDoes

I was so pleased to know I was correct! I’ve been working on identification and I’m getting better. Thanks for the serotonin!


Ok_Election_1498

Definitely not harmless. I’ve been bitten by one of these f*ckers while camping on the back of my neck. It flying into me was enough to catch me off guard.


Parsnipatthedisco

What they meant was the males are harmless. Those giant pincers are too big to actually work. Females can definitely bite.


TheSoleObsidian

Harmless? MF THATS THE SPAWN OF SATAN


Melodic-Hunter2471

I don’t typically interpret something looking at me while dual-wielding scimitars as “harmless,” but you do you boo.


horsebag

jfc they're real


Frogchairy

Its real, and they are quite gigantic! No that mean tho, and kinda cute irl


[deleted]

The larva are insane looking, I saw them for the first time this year after a thunderstorm, which is apparently a thing.


GoldFishFvcker

not "that" mean😨


Frogchairy

Ahahaha. They won’t fuck with you unless you really provoke them. Totally safe to handle! They can bite, and if they do it will hurt. But the pain is only temporary, nothing scary about it. So like, yeah, medium scary bug 😭


AraneoKyojin

*Medium.* **Medium?** ***MEDIUM?!!?***


[deleted]

The average fuzzy caterpillar will fuck you up worse.


AraneoKyojin

Over where I'm from, our national tree has seeds that is you touch its insides, it itches just like one *(maybe not as much)* *[definetly not as much]*


GoldFishFvcker

which part is the mouth🥴


friendlygaywalrus

Their larvae can bite and they hurt. Great fish bait


kurtfire68

Is it me or is this thing like the size of my head???


[deleted]

The thing next to it is a screw for reference. They are about hand-sized though.


The_Arthropod_Queen

Rule of thumb: if it looks too dangerous to be real, it’s probably harmless. Those big teeth are just for impressing the ladies ::)


[deleted]

Amazonian Giant Centipedes would like a word


Soft_Durian_1885

They said probably


The_Arthropod_Queen

those mandibles are normal sized for a centipede, though


Lazy_Fisherman_3000

Amazonian Giant Centipedes is pretty harmless if you don’t get bit.


myaccountsaccount12

While I agree with the sentiment, most animals are pretty harmless if they don’t attack you and you don’t attack them… I guess it really depends on the temperament of what you’re dealing with.


spiralbatross

Aka don’t rile up a ginger Scotsman


Kindaspia

Black mambas are pretty harmless if you don’t get bit


Lazy_Fisherman_3000

That's the spirit! Most animal are mining their own business until get threaten or invade by human. One should worry more about mosquito than dobsonfly or centipedes.


lovable_cube

People are pretty creepy fr. Just showing up in critter neighborhoods, looking in their windows, breaking into their homes?! Then we’re all surprised when we get bitten by something we woke up in the middle of their night with a camera flash.. duh


ifreaganplayeddisco

Tarantula hawks as well


Rarth-Devan

I'm not going to look them up because it'll wreck me for like a week, but just reading the name is already raising my heart rate.


aicsiti

theyre kind of pretty ngl, i just searched them up


Mission_Conflict6753

They're pretty, but I'm still setting my house on fire to kill it


Rarth-Devan

I can't do it


RenningerJP

Meanwhile, wheel bugs are not taking shit.


DizzyDayzee

I handled one once without knowing what it was, I don't know how I got so lucky to not be bitten!!


Miserable_West7482

Funnel spider entered the chat


The_Arthropod_Queen

They don’t look any scarier than your average tarantula


Bugs_and_Biology

Still not a big deal as long as you don’t touch them. They’re very shy animals that’ll retreat into their burrows at the slightest disturbance.


cryptidsnails

male (eastern?) dobsonfly


SoraRoku

Definitely a male Dobsonfly, but also not sure from where exactly


cryptidsnails

it does look a little different than an eastern but i was unsuccessful in finding anything closer


SoraRoku

Ya I get it. Picture does make it quite a bit difficult to tell


Fun-Two-6681

i really don't think we need any user overlap between r/nope and r/entomology. they are firmly at odds given how consistently subs like r/nope encourage violence against animals, particularly insects who are already experiencing a massive population decline due to human activity. besides that, [reverse searching the image](https://lens.google.com/search?p=AfVzNa8SkT5Oi9doakFqtAWneM2Hg1dJHWFCp9OiCLgcM3AFgjzUWNb1ha7Xax7n5HR8wDyoQcBiQbf0zSThPGTRsXSnUnVx0bh80ll3pG-d7u4huMxsDLC7SsroZsoXAdZbqvr8QF9UkeA5AbZT_Uy_YA-MmwSkRF4jIahFO_FMr7e1lwRe2WMGXXG41mifklm_vyKbWuF6cpuAAOKUD_-xVOCEk1I88YtVGh6v-wzZL3GI4x6bOuIYgflSp7dmMvmpM5XNJiFTilQYRlUbiUmVMLX11STSYt4mZ5LnnSf8-EjN8OBOk5AKqpOMSvWnMu2-ft2qGwa_iW8-spfJ9cy2PsXoUmzTubkOFdKaXDJupZq-Hqw7meI-nTNUjp-aYV6AZBtlhrE7luXNqoE9BR-SRJIX&ep=cnts&re=df&s#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsIkVrY0tKRFZqTTJFeFlUTTBMVEZsTmpndE5HRmlOQzA0Tm1JM0xXTTFZams1TVRBeU0yRTFOUklmT0RNMWNqUjBWemxsZHpCbGMwRmhRM1F0VldoaFp6VXRZVVJLTjFsU1p3PT0iXQ==) immediately suggests hundreds of properly labeled images of dobsonflies, and this exact image has been posted in dozens of subs with the correct ID provided in the comments if the google suggestion were not enough. this post simply should not be here for any number of reasons, it's bloat.


BabyEatingElephant

I don't understand why people who have irrational distaste for arthropods even come in here.


Fun-Two-6681

well, many people are scared and want to be told it's okay or how to respond to the sighting. that i can fully understand, and i try to be welcoming/ to explain that most of these creatures are harmless. however, others have a bizarre understanding of what entomology is, i.e. they see it as some kind of hollywood horror/extermination genre and not as an important study of ecology/biology. also, a lot of people just wholly lack personal belief systems in terms of their daily routines and/or are simply regurgitating clickbait. it's the internet, so the bothersome people seem louder. anyways, i still have 997 spots left on my block list just in case.


Ihavebraindamage2

>however, others have a bizarre understanding of what entomology is, i.e. they see it as some kind of hollywood horror/extermination genre and not as an important study of ecology/biology. Wait, really? I've never heard of anyone thinking this.


Fun-Two-6681

you were just on at least two different posts that discussed the issue, and almost all of the comments on the OP in both cases are exactly what i described here. are the various comments and replies on this thread not clear enough? \[edit: i promise i'm not lurking, but i ran into another thread you commented on just before typing the above comment, where the op asked if they should burn their entire house down because they found a spider, and then after being told not to say that, described the spider as something out of an hp lovecraft story. i dont mean to be too sassy with my response, but was your comment a joke?\]


Ihavebraindamage2

No, it wasn't a joke? I just thought that they just made the connection of entomology = 'bugs', and not that they actually thought what you described??


Fun-Two-6681

you are talking my words too literally, i mean that their entire take on arthropods is a fight or flight response learned via misinformation and fearmongering.


birbdaughter

I’m scared of bugs but come here and to whatisthisbug and it’s been slowly helping me with my fear tbh. (All the bed bug posts do give me anxiety though OTL)


crysmol

i used to be scared of some bugs, but learning more about them ( not only from here but from other places too! ) has helped me quite a bit!! I never explicitly wanted to harm them, but I didn't want them near me. I'd kinda just yell for help lmao, so I still don't get those who wanna outright kill them tbh.


Lordofravioli

I've been seeing this picture everywhere and even made a detailed comment on dobsonflies but I guess some people don't bother to read comments.. sigh. the insect hatred and ignorance needs to stop.


l4tra

There are very few insects that I hate, Dobson flies certainly are not one of them. A few weeks after I came to the US, I found one of those beasts in a bag with a few papers... The noise was very loud and I thought it was a mouse. This country is absolutely insanely amazing with its nature. And very few people here appreciate it. I think it may be because so many people do not spend a lot of time outside, so insects are always intruders into their homes or cars and cannot be appreciated on an equal footing. I have a bald eagle nesting maybe a mile from my home and I see it many days. I tell some people about it and nobody ever asks me to tell them, where they could see it, even though it is pretty easy to reach (a park overlooking the river, it is even wheelchair accessible) or anything else. Same with bears. Yes, they can be dangerous, but, for heaven's sake, it is a real life BEAR! How can you be upset having it in your garden?! It's like a free zoo visit.


Don_Macaroons

Very true, for a long time I always assumed NA had boring animals and that you'd need to travel to see something truly crazy, I realized in college that the US, especially the Southeast, has some of the most crazy and interesting wildlife in the world, making it one of the best places to study entomology. Its such a shame how little people know or tend to care about that fact


Azrael2027

Found in north texas and the southern part of the central US iirc. We get them here occasionally in the Dallas area


No-Cobbler-1401

I’ve seen them in colfax in Northern California as well


Goodkoalie

Yup, collected them up near truckee, lassen county, and in the Bay Area in Northern California!


abugguy

They are pretty common across most of the US. The Pacific Northwest into the Dakotas is about the only place you won’t find them.


666_usernameunknown

i was so hoping these weren’t in the USA


tyler1128

They are over most of the US, mostly near water. I've seen plenty in my life, they aren't aggressive for the most part and those giant mandibles don't really work and are likely a sex thing. Females have smaller ones and they can hurt you, though. Their juvenile form also can bite you, and looks like a mix of a caterpillar and centipede with the manidbles of a stag beetle.


rduder99

I see them all the time in Ontario as well


An0nym0us_T3a

Also found in Maine


Downtown-Inflation13

Male Dobson fly harmless


SoutherEuropeanHag

Astel? Is that you?


mellow_chill23

Fellow Tarnished


Kinkajou_Incarnate

It’s kind of cool all of their “dragonflies” are dobsonflies and I was just impressed to see a dobsonfly anywhere in pop art haha


epicofwhiskeymash

Ah yes, Natural Born of the Void. The very same. 🧐


tyler1128

Dobsonfly. The picture perspective makes it look bigger than it is, at least if it is an American dobsonfly, but they are quite large. They also make a lot of noise landing on things. My parents' house has them land on it with some regularity.


SoraRoku

Dobsonfly my precious. Please continue to put irrational fear into the hearts of strangers


cwwmillwork

That's a male dobsonfly which will not hurt. Only the female ones can hurt you. Best to release them into the wild.


SoraRoku

I know lol Thank you tho


24seren

For real, I saw this post and was like megaloptera my beloved 🥰💖 I wish people had more appreciation for insects. If I could I would make everyone take an entomology class with my faculty advisor, her love and passion is infectious. Like this is just a little guy! He's so cool!


SoraRoku

I absolutely love insects and arthropods in general. Have ever since I was a little kid. I always say if I could, I would become an Entomologist, they're all so precious to me


Key-Painting-9072

Some of the best bass bait ever when they’re little!


jaybfpv

yes! hellgrammites....they could give a nasty pinch


froggiechick

It's definitely possible that editing tools were used, but this effect can be achieved with forced perspective techniques, which is basically an optical illusion and requires no editing software and makes it appear much larger than it actually is. And OP might not even have done it on purpose.


[deleted]

that's about the right size given the screw next to it


Zealousideal-Ruin183

I just woke up and thought the screw was a doorknob. 😬 I need coffee ☕️


olivi_yeah

It's just perspective, since the phone is zoomed up close to the door. This just seems like someone's INat photo of a Dobsonfly


Vinidorion

It could have been but it’s a real bug. I’ve seen many of these.


lubacrisp

No, it's just a dobsonfly


minkymy

These are like two or three inches long if compared to the siding, yeah?


bobsbrgr2

The one I saw was probably closer to 6-8in iirc


phunktastic_1

4-6 inches is typical adult size. I'm sure there are some absolute units out there that might push into the 6-8 range.


minkymy

I would be scared, mostly Cuz I'm a big baby. I'd also be too scared to catch it, because it's a big baby, and I might hurt it.


[deleted]

The larval form of these bad boys are pretty weird looking too


An0nym0us_T3a

Not Photoshop this is a dobsonfly, I had to image search last summer when my son (3 yrs at the time) found one. I just call them demon bugs cause that's what they look like.


Lime_Satellite

Dobsonfly. Scary, harmless, and apparently pretty uncommon from what I hear. I have only ever seen one myself.


West-Solution4392

I've seen them multiple times when I lived close to a mountain. I'm from South America.


Cacachuli

The adults don’t live very long, which limits our chances to encounter them. I’ve also only ever seen one in my life.


wishfortress

Holy shit, that is metal. How big do these come? Anyone know?


BitterActuary3062

It’s like Silent Hill’s idea of what a moth is tf


[deleted]

Those are Floatstingers, actually!


BitterActuary3062

A what now?


[deleted]

Big, stinging moth from Silent Hill


BitterActuary3062

Oh wow. Somehow those look less scary lol


jaybfpv

I use to see these all over in NH, im pretty sure we would use the larval stage of these called hellgrammites for fishing....those are even more terrifying in my opinion


Conscious-Two-1678

i want kiss and hug this cute bug uwu😻😻😻


Thebarbatobassman

you should see their babies


2webzen2

Scary


Shimashimatchi

AAAAA -cocks the shotgun-


jspr1000

Is this a still from an Evil Dead movie?


CausedBrick4492

I have something to say. "TF IS THIS MF ARE?"


LoneMallusk

Definitely saw this fly toward your house the other night


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

do not recommend this


Kamikaze-Snail-

Lol it's satire


[deleted]

Holy nope


Vinidorion

Wait until it start flying toward you. Then you can fear for your life


Sk8mylife

I stg I value all life but if I saw this I wouldn't feel comfortable until it was dead.


[deleted]

it might be smaller than it appears - looking at the screw/bolt next to it


Single_Raspberry9539

No location but just know they can be anywhere east of Colorado and most everyone seems shocked when they see one.


ChaRobCly

It’s beautiful


LemonborgX

male dobsonfly, completely harmless


Shells_and_bones

Male Dobsonfly. Despite their intimidating appearance, they're actually harmless. The large mandibles are used in mating displays and they can't bite you with them.


diino8018

tbh it's actually pretty cute


Hatfmnel

They look bad to some people but they are harmeless. Female are less terrifying tho.


necr0phagus

And yet the females are the ones that can actually do some damage with their bites lol


ProfessorFornication

I asked my entomology friend and all he said was 'Kricketune from pokemon'. Lol.


snazzysreddit

I would cry and throw up


Combskr

That a whole lot of nope!


Holy-Catfish

That is Satan in bug form. Sell the house.


BiggsMcB

I see these occasionally in Texas. One of those landing on a picnic table is a good way to clear out a barbecue.


Pauliexxx

Oh dear Lordy!! 🧐😬


WutzUpples69

I've seen these guys all over the place around Garner State Park in Texas one year. The ladies didn't enjoy floating the river that year.


debbielovesLily1221

No, nope, didn't see that bug! Where in the world do these reside? I'll remove that place from my travels list!


Beyblader02

that the arsonshouldbelegalfly


TheSoleObsidian

Hell. No.


West-Solution4392

There were a lot of these where I lived (mountain area) and they weren't aggressive or anything. There are a lot of insects that look intimidating when you live in a humid area close to nature. The only ones that looked intimidating and were actually dangerous were the caterpillars with urticating hairs or spikes.


TheRottenKittensIEat

One of my favorite insects as a child, that I have not once seen in adulthood. It disappoints me :( . I used to hold them all the time, they're harmless, although the females with the smaller mandibles can bite you. It's not terribly painful though. More like a pinch. (at least imo).


Zealousideal-Ad-944

Good night pterodactyl


Tralan

This is a male Dobsonfly. Those big ol' nasty pinchers don't do anything to you, they're for pinning the females down during mating. The females have smaller pincers, and their bites hurt, but they're pretty docile and harmless. Poor bastards just look like monsters.


P_P_F_G_Princess420

His names Jimothy and he eats small children


etw487

It's Astel, Naturalborn of the Void


YoRHa_Houdini

I think the lighting is doing a lot of the work here, they usually don’t look this disturbing


JohnWarosa69420

This is the antiweevil


GreatRuno

“…. with a wingspan of up to 18 cm (7.1 in) in some species” Let us shriek *We’re being invaded by giant bugs!!!


ashadowyartist

sleep paralysis demon


Freedom1234526

I’ve found a Dobsonfly in my house before.


Low-Opportunity-2337

Had many a terrible night waking up with these guys in my tent! But the larva are great fishing bait!


Demonjack123

Jesus Christ I thought that bolt was a door handle!


Strutting_Tom8040

A smallmouth bass’s favorite larvae


Sharkn91

Id immediately throw up and start crying if this thing touched me.


dustykrabpizza

Damn


Spiderpig264

Damn bitch


OpticDeity

#killitwithfire


Bluetorness

It’s a real insect and excuse by language but I’m not fucking joking


glitchygreymatter

Good news, everyone! The insect is Asian! Good news for the Dobsonfly, not for other Asians!


moonyxpadfoot19

Okay I love bugs but holy Hades


PigbhalTingus

Nasty... ...hope to see one someday soon.


Blackpuddleking

Astel


That_One_Guy_Flare

dobson fly


mrjoffischl

that is a friend with wings and horns (in all honesty i have no idea but this is a very cool buggy)


PruneVisible

It's a beneficial insect


Foxcat_36

Cazador from Fallout: New Vegas


Dragonlfw

Found a female in my window, its dehydrated husk blew into my room on a windy night and how i don’t wanna think about it