The Snakefly: not a snake and not a fly
You probably don’t find many flying snakes around Crystal Lakes but you may have encountered a Snakefly, one of our natve insects. The Snakefly is a small flying insect that can be seen hunting for smaller insects on flowers in the warm summer months. It is technically not a “fly” since it has four wings (true flies only have two wings). The good news is they are harmless to people and are considered a beneficial insect in forests. These “living fossils” very closely resemble their ancestors found in the fossil record. General Description The adult Snakefly measures about a half an inch long (1.5 cm) with an elongated snake-like “neck” and four transparent wings. Female Snakeflies have a long thread-like appendage at the end of their abdomen, a tube structure for laying eggs under tree bark called an ovipositor. Although this may be mistaken for a “stinger” at first glance, these insects can not sting. |