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Antlions

© Carla Goodloe

There are around 200 species throughtout North America.

Adults are delicate, long-bodied flying insects with 1-5 inch wingspans. They resemble dragonflies and damselflies, but have long antennae with little knobs on the ends. They lay sticky eggs on sandy soil, where the eggs become coated with a layer of fine dust. The larvae that hatch from these eggs live just below the soil surface. Some species' larvae camouflage themselves with soil particles. The larvae are usually about half an inch long and dull brown in color with segmented bodies, plump abdomens and pincer-like jaws. One species has a bright red abdomen. In dry enviroments, the larvae may live several years before pupating. In lusher places with more food, the larval stage may last only a couple of months. larvae pupate in the soil in a cocoon made of sand and silky fibers. After a month, the adults emerge.

In Mississippi as a child, we would find holes in the soil in our yard and poke a piece of straw down in the hole. If the straw was pushed back out, there was a "doodlebug" in there. A doodlebug is the antlion larvae in the hole and they don't like being prodded, but it was sure fun.

Adults are usually nocturnal and attracted to light. The larvae (doodlebugs) wait at the bottom of their pit in the soil for ants and other insects to fall in. If the prey tries to escape, the ant lion larvae flick soil on it to make it fall back down. The larvae of the pit-digging ant lions can only move backwards. larvae of other species lurk just below the surface of the soil and detect their prey by vibration. When they catch an insect, they pull it below the surface of the soil.

Ant lions live in a range of different habitats including desert dwelling, rock overhans, dry tree holes, gopher/turtoise burrows, and brush.

Ant lions eat all kinds of soft-bodied insects, but their diet consists mostly of ants, including fire ants if they want the risk of being killed first.

These insects are slightly beneficial since there are way too many ants to be controlled by the ant lion. But if you have them around, that's alot fewer ants for you to worry about.

For more in depth information, visit "The Antlion Pit" at: http://www.enteract.com/~mswanson/antlio...

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