Talk:Dobsonfly

Contradiction

Dobsonflies have large, powerful jaws, strong enough even to draw blood from humans. Despite the fact that the males' mandibles are much bigger than the females', they are unable to harm humans.

Anyone else think this is a contradiction? --131.123.86.200 01:11, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes and no; the larvae can draw blood; but the adult males have large mandibles that look fierce but are harmless; off the top of my head I don't know if adult females can draw blood; clarification needed in the article.Dmccabe 02:38, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Disambiguation

"Hellgrammites" needs to be disambiguated; they're not just a DC supervillian...! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.51.19.229 (talk) 01:07, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

i compleatly agree it needs to be seen as not just fishing bait

p.s. there not good fishing bait so leave it alone —Preceding unsigned comment added by Daedrafobia (talk • contribs) 20:24, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Female picture needed

I don't know if anybody still keeps track of this article, but if possible it would be nice to upload a public domain picture of a female dobsonfly to illustrate the different mandible form. I tried to get some but for some reason all of the pictures turned out blurry. The Behnam 18:38, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Being summer, I get about a dozen on my porch every night. I don't have a camera, but will see what I can do. Should I try to take a complimentary male photo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.103.241.26 (talk) 04:42, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

I've added a slightly blurry photo of a female, but if anyone gets a better quality version, feel free to replace mine. SheepNotGoats (talk) 19:00, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Why...

are they called hellgrammites? --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 04:52, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

In-Flight Picture?

Has anyone ever seen these in-flight? It is the most spectacular sight I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture. They basically look like Tinkerbell when they fly! What a contrast: ugly, scary large insect when on the ground -- fragile, beautiful, graceful fairy-like being in the air... 85.178.16.97 (talk) 13:34, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

What a wonderful comment. Personally, in flight, they still scare the bejeebers out of me. When the family had a boat on the susquehanna river the only thing that scared me about being out on the water at night was having those critters fly into me in the dark. I admire your decision to see them as beautiful. My daughter would approve too. PurpleChez (talk) 13:34, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Primary food-source?

What do the larvae feed off? I couldn't seem to find it in this article.

~Bonville —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.10.160.99 (talk) 16:00, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

References?

This is a fine article, but none of the facts stated cite any references. Could someone who knows more about these take a second look? !MNc99 (talk) 00:05, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

King Bug

I've been following dobsonflies for years and have never heard them called "King Bug". I can't find any reference to it anywhere, except reposts of this article. Please give a reference or remove the information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Omnirag (talk • contribs) 15:21, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

grampus

The Grampus article states "grampus" is one of the names for the Dobsonfly larva or hellgrammite and directs to this article. I have heard that the Grampus is sought in Tennessee mountain streams for fish bait. I think it should be mentioned here that the Dobsonfly larva or hellgrammite is also known as grampus. -- Naaman Brown (talk) 12:57, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

The grampus article does not provide a citation, and unless you can find one, I propose to delete that text from the grampus article. It sounds like nonsense; as far as I've ever heard, it's a name for the hellbender, which is a salamander, not a hellgrammite; I suspect someone got these names confused. Dyanega (talk) 17:16, 26 October 2018 (UTC)