Odd Insect/Animal found near Jim Thorpe rill

This was taken by my brother during a small vacation to CT, on his way back to PA he stopped in Jim Thorpe, and took several pictures of this thing. Can someone tell me what it is?

I have more pictures of it, none other than from above it.


what you can discern from these pictures are it's eyes (Black and beatie) teeth like structures (gnawing design), claws and body....

here is one from it on its side?

I don't know about others, but the photos aren't close enough, nor detailed enough, for me to really make it out.
Sorry, I'd love to know whatever it is that you saw.

This message was edited Nov 11, 2011 5:22 AM

do you have a full sized picture larger than this one you are linking?

I do have several pictures but for whatever reason ( sounds shady I know), my brother did not get close enough to it, he was kind of afraid of it, because of how alien it looked.

Could you describe its size, general shape, and type of movement (if any) it exhibited?

" it had a tail in the soil
he tried to dig it up but it was in pretty far in the soil.
so much so that a slight digging around, showed that it was more than a few inches in the ground.
It apparently stood up-right and was, with its abdomen and head was moving back and forth in a singular motion.
It never fully revealed itself, keeping it's tail securely fashioned in the ground "

phone conversation from my brother Christopher, who took the photos

Well I still can't tell from the picture, though I did zoom in a bit for other input, if it helps at all.
It looks like it has antennae curling back over it's head.
I guess what I meant was, do you have full size images that haven't been resized, or are those full size images?
It looks like a crustacean of some type to me.
I just wish I knew more!

This message was edited Nov 12, 2011 3:30 PM

Oh also blew up the side shot...
which i didnt see before.. i have no idea what to make of it.

Just curious...are we sure this is an insect?

nope.
also to the OP, it would be really helpful if we knew how much of the animal was sticking out of the ground.. like a size estimate.
is it 2 or 3 cm tall or 2 or 3 inches?

This message was edited Nov 12, 2011 8:55 PM

chupacabra !!

oh come on we're in the wrong area for el chupa. its most definitely a mothman larvae ;)

This message was edited Nov 13, 2011 2:28 PM

actually i think i just may have figured it out!!!
i was thinking, what has pinchers, antennae, and eyes like that?
hellgramite!!!
i didnt know whether they had a pupal stage, so i looked it up!
what do you guys think?
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads//2010/06/hellgrammite_pupa_jeremy.jpg
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/hellgrammite_pupa_molly.jpg
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/images/dobson_pupa_emily.jpg

This message was edited Nov 13, 2011 2:39 PM

Thats awesome that looks so much like it apparently. uhm, It was about 5 inches out of the ground, in some of the pictures you can see they tried to dig. nuts if thats what it is, thank you! still want feedback though, thats amazing you found pictures of something that could very well be it

i have no idea the size of hellgramite pupae, but it certainly seems like it's still a good possibility.
Let me post you a link to the picture of the adult aka the eastern dobsonfly:

http://www.pawild.net/home/photos/eastern_dobsonfly_male_july_10_2008_a_030.jpg
This is a male. Males have large harmless pinchers.
Females have short ones, and can actually give a nasty bite with them.

Here's the bugfile for them.
You can see some more good size identifying pictures.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/390/

This message was edited Nov 14, 2011 6:54 AM

Whoops double post.



This message was edited Nov 14, 2011 6:53 AM

I'm going to have nightmares. It was sure less scary looking in the blurry photos. EEEKKKK

ahahah no worries they're ugly but harmless.
they require healthy streams to grow in, so they mean your aquatic environment is looking good ;).
and you'll probably never see adults unless you leave your lights on at night.

I'm so grateful to live in a place where there are NONE of these! It's the stuff nightmares are made of!!! :)

they really aren't that bad.
the adults don't even feed.
the larvae are a popular fishing bait.
they have to have high oxygen levels to stay alive, so they mean your water is nice and healthy.
and you rarely see the adults since they are night fliers.