snakefly

Agulla sp.

This is the fourth snakefly I've noticed around home in the past week. Last year I was surprised at how many snakeflies I found, when previously I'd maybe spot one or two a year. Now, I'm guessing they're fairly common from March to May. When I started Nature ID, I'd never have predicted that blogging would help me become more observant of what's around me. Plus, I'm a little more patient these days while taking photographs.

snakefly ~ 05/02/10 ~ at home

snakefly

The Chinese calendar says it's the year of the tiger, but for me it's the year of the snakefly. I even saw one recently while I was in Oregon. Here I am prepping dinner and this guy is hanging on the kitchen window. Oy! I wonder what they eat.

ps 05/11/10 - Unbelievable, there's another snakefly on our balcony.

snakefly

He's baaaaaack! Looking in on me from the office window. Seriously, I doubt this is the same individual from March 11, 2010.

snakefly
Agulla sp.
Order Neuroptera > Suborder Raphidiodea

Every spring I find at least one or two snakeflies resting in the early morning on our balcony. They never seem too eager to fly away; maybe it's chilly out for them or they're still groggy from a previous day's activities. I scooped this one up in my favorite flat container with plans to look at him under my dissecting scope and test whether a decent e-picture can be had through a scope lens. I kept him for a couple hours in the office until the sun came up, but he escaped through a miniscule hole in the container and promptly sat next to my computer. Unfortunately, the morning got away from me and I settled for taking a pic on a sheet of white paper as the sun was rising. I especially like the prehistoric-looking shadow in the second picture. I let him go, but by late afternoon, this fellow was back on the office window looking in on me when I returned to my computer.

Wikipedia says they are now in its own Order, but I'm old school and still consider it a neuropteran, aka nerve-winged insects. Jerry Powell and Charles Hogue state there are at least a dozen species in CA.

ps 04/07/10 - For a truth in advertising confession, the last pic was actually from the early morning (as evidenced by the direction of lighting) and not in the late afternoon. For a pic of another snakefly sighting, see today's post.

pss 03/25/11 - I spotted my first snake fly this year on our balcony today. Simply recording my observations.