Like I said, 'hellgrammite' is used by some people as a term for any large aquatic larva like stonefly or dragonfly nymphs. A true hellgrammite is the larva stage of the dobsonfly nymph. See the link below or just look up dobsonfly in google. The link has some good pictures of the adult and larve. The larve sort of looks like other large aquatic larve, but there are some distict differences. The adult female resembles a stonefly with the except of the mandibles are larger and the wings are wider. I suppose dobsonflys could have migrated west, but I have never seen one in Idaho nor California.

Hey, this is fun. A lively discussion without talking about Indian's gillnetting.

---bdb

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Moran%20Website/mpages/dobsonfly.htm