--- title: "Antlion (Myrmeleon formicarius) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Its larva jerks sand out of a pit with its head and, when hungry, sucks its prey very dry." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/antlion-1.webp" published: "2026-10-11" updated: "2026-10-11" --- # Antlion (*Myrmeleon formicarius*) > **Status**: Checked against 3 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: Its larva jerks sand out of a pit with its head and, when hungry, sucks its prey very dry. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom // Russian Circles, "Youngblood" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/6F9Zmskmo9MY5YHCq7y7ji) > **Vibe Match**: An antlion larva throws sand out of its pit with a backward jerk of the head, and can bury itself with great rapidity. Russian Circles' Youngblood hammers one riff again and again, then drops suddenly into heavier ground. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Myrmeleon formicarius* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Not Evaluated ([IUCN Red List](https://www.iucnredlist.org/)) - **Superpower**: Its larva throws sand out of its pit with a backward jerk of the head - **Habitat**: Recorded from Africa, Europe, northern Asia (not China) and southern Asia; in Spain, dry dusty earth in a pine forest - **Diet**: In one captive study, chiefly the caterpillars of small moths and butterflies, sucked very dry when hungry - **Tags**: insect, ambush-predator, predator ## Natural History & Behavior ## A trap dug by a backwards builder Not a lion and not an ant: *Myrmeleon formicarius* is an antlion, a member of the family Myrmeleontidae, named by Linnaeus in 1767. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System files it in the order Neuroptera, alongside lacewings and mantisflies, and records it from Africa, Europe, northern Asia (not China) and southern Asia. The trapper is the larva, the young stage. In 1904 Dr T. A. Chapman collected larvae at La Granja in Spain, in rather dry, dusty earth (scarcely sand) in a pine forest. They were sometimes so crowded that eight or ten of "various sizes" shared one square foot. Back home they made typical pits, and he watched them throw out sand with a backward jerk of the head, either to dig a pit or to repair one. > **Backwards and buried** Chapman noted that the larva appeared always to travel backwards, and always under the sand. On the surface it was not very helpful, but it could bury itself with great rapidity. ## What it eats and how long it waits Over six weeks in Chapman's care the larvae ate a good many larvae, chiefly those of small moths and butterflies. When hungry, an antlion sucked its victim so dry that only a minute shred remained. Chapman then passed two larvae on to W. J. Lucas. They ate little or nothing until well into the spring of the next year, and Lucas suggested that possibly they do not feed during the winter. One of the two, collected in summer 1904, produced an adult of good size about midsummer 1905. ## Sand, silk and a one-job jaw The larva's mandibles (jaws) are described as formidable, built to trap prey. When Lucas's larva was ready to pupate, it made a round cocoon of sand grains cemented with a gummy material the paper calls liquid silk, about nine-sixteenths of an inch across, roughly 14 millimetres. Lucas noted that so small an insect had to produce a large adult. The pupa's jaws are much reduced in size and do a single job: cutting an opening in the cocoon. The adult's jaws end up quite simple. A chemical study in 1989 looked at three antlion species and found the compounds nerol and 10-homonerol in *M. formicarius*. Its title calls such compounds volatile signals, meaning chemicals that evaporate easily into the air. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do antlion larvae eat ants? In a 1906 account, two captive larvae were offered live red wood ants in autumn and would have none of them. Their keeper, W. J. Lucas, wrote that they seemed unwilling to accept anything he gave them and that possibly they do not feed during the winter. Before pupating, one ate one or two caterpillars. *(Source: [Lucas 1906]())* ### Can an antlion larva catch any prey it likes? Not the larvae in a 1906 captive study. They avoided a caterpillar that was too large, and one they did seize could jerk itself loose or even jerk the antlion out of the sand. A small one had no chance once it was caught. *(Source: [Lucas 1906]())* ### How does an antlion get out of its cocoon? In Lucas's 1906 account, the larva left gummy threads across the sand and built a round cocoon of cemented sand grains. Inside, the adult uses the pupa's small saw-edged jaws to cut an opening at the top, pushes the front of its body out and slips out of its old skin through a slit down its back. *(Source: [Lucas 1906]())* ## Sources 1. [Lucas (1906). On the emergence of Myrmeleon formicarius from the pupa. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London.]() 2. [Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).]() 3. [Baeckström et al. (1989). Structures, absolute configurations, and syntheses of volatile signals from three sympatric ant-lion species, Euroleon nostras, Grocus bore, and Myrmeleon formicarius (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae). Journal of Chemical Ecology.]() *Published October 11, 2026. 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