ANT LION
Jack Schmidling Productions, Inc.
18016 Church Road ~ Marengo IL 60152
Phone:815 923 0031 ~ Email:jack@schmidling.com
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ANTLION
Myrmeleontidae
We have found several of these over the years caught up in spider webs but as they were in pretty bad condition by the time we found them, we were never able to identify them.
A friend and guest at our Oktoberfest identified this one as an Ant Lion. He is rarely wrong on these sorts of things but never having seen one of their ant traps around here, we were surprised to learn they lived this far north.
Well, last year we found a group of these in the sandy soil at the base of a Spruce tree in the back yard. This is the classic ant trap of the Ant Lion.
The adult lays it's eggs on the ground which hatch into a larva known as a "Doodlebug" which builds the trap in sandy soil and waits for an ant to try to cross it. The ant usually slips a little and a few grains of sand roll into the hole. At this signal, the larva kicks up a storm of sand which knocks the ant over, tumbling it into the hole where it is eaten by the doodle bug.
Without digging up the trap one never sees the doodlebug but it is great fun to push a few grains of sand into the hole with a blade of grass and watch the trap erupt like a volcano.
For more insects ........
Insects
Well, last year we found a group of these in the sandy soil at the base of a Spruce tree in the back yard. This is the classic ant trap of the Ant Lion.
The adult lays it's eggs on the ground which hatch into a larva known as a "Doodlebug" which builds the trap in sandy soil and waits for an ant to try to cross it. The ant usually slips a little and a few grains of sand roll into the hole. At this signal, the larva kicks up a storm of sand which knocks the ant over, tumbling it into the hole where it is eaten by the doodle bug.
Without digging up the trap one never sees the doodlebug but it is great fun to push a few grains of sand into the hole with a blade of grass and watch the trap erupt like a volcano.
For more insects ........ Insects