What Is an Ant Lion?

Larva

• The name ant lion is most suited to the larval form of the insect, which is a creature that is gray-brown in color with a large head, long mandibles and a soft, bristly body. It is a predatory insect, preying mainly on ants and also other insects that it happens to trap in its pit. When it traps an insect in its mandibles, it sucks the fluid out of the body, discarding the empty carcass when it has finished.

Pits

• The larva of the ant lion is sometimes known as the doodlebug in America, because of the wandering path it leaves in the sand or soil as it moves, looking for a suitable location to dig its pit. When it finds the right place, it uses its flat head to repeatedly mark out a spiral in the sand, deepening it until it forms a funnel shaped pit. The ant lion larva then uses its tapered body to dig itself into the sand at the bottom of the pit, leaving only its mandibles free. It must then wait for an insect to wander in; the shifting sand walls prevent the insect from escaping and eventually it slides to the bottom and into the waiting jaws of the ant lion.

Adult

• The adult ant lion looks very much like a damselfly or a dragonfly. Despite its long wings, it is not able to fly very well or for long distances. It is very rarely seen as it is only active at night, and during the day it remains very still, camouflaged against the background by its transparent wings and pale brown body. The adult ant lion does not eat ants, preferring instead the nectar from flowers. After its transformation from larva to adult, the ant lion goes from predator to prey and is often snatched out of the air by birds.

Mythology

• There are countless examples of the ant lions in folklore and mythology in many different countries, including America, Australia, China and Mexico. Folklore in the U.S. likely dates back to the first days of colonization and takes the form of charms about the doodlebug, such as the one Mark Twain included in his novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." In Australia, the ant lion is included in Aboriginal folktales such as "Tjukurrpa mamutjitjitjarra" (The Story of the Ant Lion Game). Traditional Chinese medicine uses the ant lion in a cure for tuberculosis, and in Mexico there is a superstition that if a person holds an ant lion too long it will bury itself in his skin.