Critters in Their Craters opus 882
| 12 July 2026 0002 Hours | | Entomology, Behavior, Biology, California, Environment, Food, Mortality, Science, Zoology |
Each year, as I walk along my driveway,
The open dirt along the edge is riddled with tiny craters.
This is my annual crop of the small, but fierce antlions.
In the Spring, there appear myriads of tiny craters,
Which become ever larger as summer progresses.
The growing antlions here are the larval form
In the family Myrmeleontidae, (leon is French for lion),
Of these, about 2,000 species are spread across the globe.
In jest, the larva is called a 'Doodlebug' because
It can only walk backward,
Leaving a winding, 'scribbled' trail in the sand or soft dirt.
Their conical pitfall traps have slopes at the 'critical angle of repose,'
Or, in other words, 'the steepest angle the sand
Can maintain before collapsing.'
When an ant passes too close and slips over the pit's edge,
The antlion flips up sand with its head and collapses that edge,
Propelling the ant directly into its jaws.
After injecting paralyzing venom and liquefying enzymes into the victim,
The predator sucks out the liquid organs with ease.
Interestingly, the antlion has no anus and must store
All metabolic waste for up to two years, finally releasing it
Upon metamorphosing into the adult stage.
The adult transforms into a damselfly-looking form,
Possessing a long, intricately-veined double pair of wings.
Unlike damselflies, adult antlions have long, clubbed antennae.
They are also flimsy-bodied and very weak, clumsy fliers.
While larval antlions are voracious ant predators,
The adults rarely eat, and then, when they do,
They subsist on pollen, nectar, or small, soft-bodied flies!
To top this off, adults live only 20 to 40 days,
Long enough to mate and lay eggs.