A boy’s life meets a bug’s life
On the wings of a Dobson flyBy SANDY MICKELSON, Messenger staff writer
Article Photos
Now, that's a bug.
Four inches, give or take, of big, black wings and pinchers that won't stop. The kind of bug that would scare the tar out of anyone it buzzed on a hazy, summer afternoon.
Ten-year-old Carl Wendland keeps this bug - this male Dobson fly - in a glass bowl at his grandmother's home. She agreed to using the bowl, but insists it will be sterilized maybe two or three times before being used as a bowl again.
It all started Monday when Paul Wendland found this Dobson fly on the screen of his RV Upholstery shop in Fort Dodge. He thought Carl would get a kick out of seeing it so he stuck it in a glass jar and brought it home.
Wendland and his wife, Jan, and their children - Kylie, 12; Carl; and baby A.J., 4 months - live near Barnum. During the summer, the kids spend days with her folks, Jaci and Rick Noll, of Fort Dodge. That's how the fly found a home in Jaci Noll's glass bowl.
Being good on the computer, Carl needed little time to look up his big, new bug.
''I just looked for bugs with wings and pinchers,'' Carl said. ''It just took a minute or so. It's a male. The pinchers show that. He doesn't have enough strength to pierce skin, but females bite.''
It may not have enough strength to bite, but Carl still didn't want it running around on his hand or arm. He did offer his sister's hand, though, if anyone wanted to see it up close and personal.
Audra Fisher at the Webster County Iowa State University Extension office said the male Dobson fly isn't rare around the area - several of them are brought in each summer by folks who want to know what they are.
''It doesn't eat or drink anything,'' Carl said. ''The larvae has to be in water or on the riverbanks.''
Although the Dobson fly looks fair-to-middlin' docile when it's trapped in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap, Carl said, ''We brought him outside in the sunlight, and I think he thought he was free because he flew up to the top.''
Jaci Noll laughed and added, ''His wings were really going at it when they brought him out of the house.''
And when it feels threatened, the fly emits a vile odor, she said.
Male Dobson flies live only five to seven days, so Carl is considering mounting it in a shadow box.
Before the big end, though, it's important to watch the Noll's cat, Herky, who seemed mighty interested in such a tasty-looking morsel.
Contact Sandy Mickelson at (515) 573-2141 or smickelson@messengernews.net
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07-19-08 10:15 AM
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The female Dobson fly might not look as scary, but she is more likely to bite (and from what I hear, it really HURTS).
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