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*** Note: KnowYourInsects.org does its best to include correct identifications of insect photos. It’s always possible that we made a mistake, however, so if you see a misidentification, please contact us and we will correct it. Thanks!
Order Raphidioptera: the snakeflies — Examples
Snakefly in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
Photographed and identified by: Shelli St. Clair. Location: Columbia, California, USA. Date: 26 May, 2016.
Shelli says, “It landed on my windshield and I was able to get a really good photo of it w/my iPhone.” Beautiful shot, Shelli!
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Snakefly, male, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae order Raphidioptera.
Photographed by: D. Weller. Identified by D. Weller and S. St. Clair. Location: Sonora, California, USA. Date: 17 May, 2016.
D. Weller found this one on a car windshield. Her sister Shelli St. Clair says, “About 3 hours prior to my sister’s photo, a passenger in my car shooed one out the car window (about 5 miles away from my sister’s encounter). We’ve never seen this insect before (she has lived her all her life), and there were 2 sightings in the same afternoon!” See the previous entry for yet another encounter by Shelli! |
Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae order Raphidioptera.
Photographed and identified by: Cathleen Capogeannis. Location: east foothills of San Jose, California, USA. Date: 2 May, 2015 (late afternoon).
Cathleen found this one on a house.
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Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ This photo of a snakefly shows the small vein that separates the pterostigma (shown with the red arrow in the right close-up). That feature is a characteristic of the Raphidiidae family of snakeflies.
Photographed by: Lisa M. Bakos. Location: Diablo, California, USA. Date: 30 March, 2021.
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Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□The snakefly gets its name from its snake-like head that perches on the end of its long, neck-like thorax. This nonaggressive insect shares little else with snakes. The female, shown here, has a long “tail”, which is actually an egg-laying structure called an ovipositor.
Photographed and identified by: Joey Sanchez. Location: Union, Washington, USA. Date: 29 June, 2018.
Joey says, “I found this snakefly (Raphidioptera) on my bus ride home from school.” KnowYourInsects.org says, “ Great job of identification, Joey!” |
Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ The snakeflies are separated into only two families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae. A good way to tell the two families apart is to look at the pterostigma, which is the slightly colored section of cells on the forewing (as seen in this photo). If the pterostigm is separated in two by a small vein, or veinlet (see the lowermost wing in the photo above), it is a member of the Raphidiidae family.
Photographed and identified by: Carleen McLain. Location: Portland, Oregon, USA. Date: 8 July, 2017. |
Snakefly, Agulla bicolor, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ This wonderful mirrored photo shows the side view and the underside of this species of Snakefly.
Photographed and identified by: Tommy Vick. Location: Fort Davis, Texas, USA. Date: 16 April, 2020.
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Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ See the photographer’s comment below.
Photographed by: Kathryne Rupley. Identified to order by: Kathryne Rupley and her two girls. Identified to genus by: KnowYourInsects.org. Location: North Fork, California, USA. Date: 4 May, 2019.
“The girls found it on a tree and captured her to identify this mysterious bug. For sure they thought a new and dangerous species, but your website was useful in naming her a snakefly, our very first!” KnowYourInsects.org says, “Kudos to your curious girls!” |
Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ Snakeflies are predatory insects, which means they attack and kill their prey, which often include aphids. At one time, they were grouped with the lacewings in the order Neuroptera, but they have since been separated into their own group: Raphidioptera.
Photographed and identified by: Ruel Parent. Location: Sunnyvale, California, USA. Date: 22 March, 2015.
Ruel found this snakefly indoors on a windowsill.
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Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, in order Raphidioptera.
□ This snakefly was photographed in British Columbia, which only has one genus in its family: Agulla.
Photographed and identified by: Joyce Kay. Location: Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. Date: 29 July, 2019. |
Snakefly, female, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, in order Raphidioptera.
□ The snakeflies are divided into only two families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae. Only those in Raphidiidae have pterostigma (the small orange/brown section in the forewings) that are divided by a diagonal wing vein as seen in this photo.
Photographed and identified by: Ben D'Antoni. Nicely done, Ben! Location: Portland, Oregon, USA. Date: 10 June, 2023. |
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ Features of a snakefly larva include a rather squared off head; the more-hardened and solid-colored exoskeleton on the head and first segment of the thorax; and a somewhat flattened remainder of the body, including the abdomen and the second and third segments of the thorax (each thoracic segment has a pair of legs attached).
Photographed and identified by: Andrew Cardin. Nicely done, Andrew! Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico. Date: 15 September, 2022.
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ Note the similarities with the adult: a long thorax and a similarly shaped head.
Photographed and identified by: Anonymous. Location: Vancouver, Washington, USA. Date: 29 July, 2015.
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
Photographed by: Cindy Andress. Identified by: KnowYourInsects.org. Location: Unknown. Date: 27 October, 2017.
Cindy says, “I found it under my husband’s pillow. He had been out chopping wood. When he woke up with bites on his arms, I checked the bedding and found it!”
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
Photographed by: Chris Solberg. Identified by: KnowYourInsects.org. Location: Berkeley, California, USA.
Date: 10 July, 2015.
Chris says, “The legs push from the back...front part almost ‘snaking’ or creeping forward.”
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
□ This photo shows the underside of the Snakefly larva.
Discovered by: Nicole Bobier and her mom. Photographed by: Nicole Bobier. Identified by: KnowYourInsects.org. Location: northern California, USA.
Date: 25 October, 2019.
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Snakefly, larva, in the genus Agulla, family Raphidiidae, order Raphidioptera.
Photographed and identified by: Sheila Honeycutt. Nicely done, Sheila! Location: Lake County, California, USA.
Date: 15 October, 2021.
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Photos at the top of this website are by: Leslie Mertz, Ph.D., LMERTZ@nasw.org.
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