|
Genus Neohermes - Gray Fishflies
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Megaloptera (Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies)
Family Corydalidae (Dobsonflies and Fishflies)
Genus Neohermes (Gray Fishflies)
Other Common Names Dobsonfly, California Dobsonfly (N. californica) Explanation of Names Author of genus is Banks, 1908. Neohermes means "new Hermes". The latter is a an Old World genus of the same family, named for the Greek God Hermes, the Messenger. (Based on Internet searches.)
Common name coined for this genus in order to differentiate from Chauliodes, which are more brown. Numbers Nearctica.com and Arnett, p. 346, (1) list 5 spp. Size Length 35-55 mm (head to wing tips), body length in the range of 25-35 mm, wingspan 85-105 mm. Males smaller, apparently. Identification Similar to Chauliodes fishflies, and formerly part of that genus. Body and wings dark, wings mottled gray. Antennae "moniliform", as opposed to "pectinate" or "serrate" antennae of Chauliodes. (Moniliform means like a string of beads.) Antennae of males have each segment with ring of erect hairs in at least one species:
Venation of hindwing is different from Chauliodes, see Internet and print references for details. Range North America--three species in east and two in west (Bowles and Mathis, 1992):
Neohermes concolor--widespread in eastern United States
Neohermes angusticollis--Georgia and South Carolina, (?) North Carolina (2)
Neohermes matheri--reported from Mississippi
Neohermes californicus--western, including California
Neohermes filicornis--western
Habitat Neohermes appears to prefer streams, as opposed to Chauliodes, which prefers still bodies of water. Season Spring-summer: June-August (N. concolor, Oklahoma), June (N. angusticollis, Piedmont North Carolina), May (N. californicus, N. California) Food Adults probably do not feed. Life Cycle Similar to Chauliodes, presumably. Larvae aquatic, probably omnivorous? Larvae live in leaf litter at bottom of small streams. N. californicus is known to wait out dry seasons buried in mud as first instar larva. See Also
Protochauliodes, Western North America, has threadlike antennae
Print References Arnett pp. 345-346, keys adults from Chauliodes based on wing venation (1)
Brimley, p. 28, lists Chauliodes (Neohermes) angusticollis as flying in June in North Carolina. (2)
Powell and Hogue, p. 128, plate 5a (3)Internet References Megaloptera of Oklahoma--description of N. concolor
Calif. Academy of Sciences--photo, May 1, Calaveras County, California.
Errata page--Insects of the Los Angeles basin, lists two species for California.
North Carolina State Entomology Collection lists for that state, with number pinned: angusticollis (17), rastinicornis (8, = filicornis?, or perhaps an error for Chauliodes rastricornis?).
Tree of Life--quotes references on life history.
Winds of Kansas--N. concolor in Kansas
Bowles and Mathis (1992). Variation in the terminalia of Neohemes mnmlor with a key to males of Neohemes in eastern North America. Insecta Mundi 6: 145-149, available here. Works Cited | 3. | California Insects
By Jerry A. Powell, Charles L. Hogue |  |
Contributed by Cotinis on 10 November, 2004 - 5:41pm Last updated 24 June, 2009 - 3:56pm |
|
|
|
