What kind of insect is this?

Question

I found it in my backyard in Great Falls, Virginia and have never seen or heard of anything like it. It is huge and I have included some pictures of it. It has 2 giant antennae and 2 huge pincers. It is a flying insect. Any info is appreciated.
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Answer 1

It's a male dobsonfly. Dobsonflies are in the Order Neuroptera, related to lacewings and ant-lions.

Their larvae are aquatic predators, found in highly oxygenated, high quality water sources, where they feed on other insects like stoneflies and mayflies. Sometimes called hellgrammites, they are popular fish bait.

The adults, although fierce looking, are harmless. They don't even feed as adults, existing only to mate and die. The males have highly elongated mandibles that look terrifying, but they don't have the muscle power to bite with them.

Answer 2

As most of the reponses have been, that is a female dobsonfly. You can tell the difference between a male and female by the size of their mandibles. The males are larger, in fact they are so large as to make them almost useless. The females however, are capable of inflicting a painful bite, sometimes breaking the skin and causing bleeding. Although, painful, they are harmless to humans. Also, if you ever hold one......smell your hands after you let it go, they are probably going to stink. When threatened, as a last resort, they emit a foul smelling odor.

Answer 3

You are lucky to have such cool things as dobsonflies flying around! The insect life here in California is so limited by our dry climate....that is one thing that is nice about humid, green summers back east. Also you have fireflies....which is just way cool.

Answer 4

Go to whatsthatbug.com and you can see many pictures of dobson flies. The one in your photo is a female eastern dobson fly. The male has long mandibles. These bugs are prized by fishermen as bait. Believe me, you never want to get bit by one(as I have) because it hurts. They do not eat as adults and their sole purpose in living is for breeding. They live and breed near fast moving streams. We have them in Missouri too. They are not true flies. True flies are Diptera.