YIKES! This is a new insect for me! Isn't it strange and even scary looking? Last Saturday, Lindsey and I visited the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment in San Marcos in honor of her birthday. We took a guided tour with Leonard on the Wetlands Boardwalk and an extended 45-minute tour led by Graham on a glass-bottom boat. As we were getting off the boat, Lindsey exclaimed, "LOOK! A dobsonfly! It's a male!"
A WHAT?! Goodness! I was excited, to say the least. What a cool insect! So I'm sharing my photo (above) and Lindsey's, too (below). This one is likely an eastern dobsonfly (Corydalus cornutus). According to Buggide.net, "Eggs are laid in masses of 100-1,000 on rocks (or vegetation) above the waterline. Larvae drop or crawl into water. Larvae develop for two to three years, then crawl out of water, build pupal cell under log or rock, and overwinter. Adults emerge spring to summer."
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