---
title: "What the sources say about the Antlion | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "44 claims from the Antlion profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/antlion-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antlion/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Antlion (*Myrmeleon formicarius*)

> 44 claims from the Antlion profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Antlion](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antlion/)

## Lucas (1906). On the emergence of Myrmeleon formicarius from the pupa. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1906.tb02463.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Its larva jerks sand out of a pit with its head | They made typical pits several times. I saw them not infrequently throwing out sand by the backward jerk of the head. (note: tagline) |
| when hungry, sucks its prey very dry. | When hungry, the ant-lion sucked the larva very dry (note: tagline) |
| in Spain, dry dusty earth in a pine forest | They were there very abundant amongst what was rather dry dusty earth — scarcely sand — in the pine forest (note: stats.habitat) |
| In one captive study, chiefly the caterpillars of small moths and butterflies, sucked very dry when hungry | During the six weeks I had them at home before passing them on to Mr. Lucas they ate a good many larvae, chiefly of small Lepidoptera. ... When hungry, the ant-lion sucked the larva very dry (note: stats.diet; larvae of Lepidoptera = caterpillars of moths and butterflies) |
| Its larva throws sand out of its pit with a backward jerk of the head | throwing out sand by the backward jerk of the head. This was done either in making a pit or in repairing it (note: stats.superpower) |
| The trapper is the larva, the young stage. | the formidable larval mandibles are formed to serve as a trap to catch the prey in that 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. | Notes on the larv?e made by T. A. Chapman, M.D. ... I brought home several of these Ant-lion larva3 on Aug. 10th, 1904, having found them a week or so earlier at La Granja (Spain). They were there very abundant amongst what was rather dry dusty earth — scarcely sand — in the pine forest (note: OCR 'larva3' = larvae) |
| They were sometimes so crowded that eight or ten of "various sizes" shared one square foot. | They were sometimes so abundant that a square foot was occupied by eight or ten of them of various sizes. |
| 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. | They made typical pits several times. I saw them not infrequently throwing out sand by the backward jerk of the head. This was done either in making a pit or in repairing it. (note: inside Chapman's quoted notes) |
| Chapman noted that the larva appeared always to travel backwards, and always under the sand. | The larva appears ahvays to travel backwards, and ahvays under the sand (note: OCR 'ahvays' = always) |
| On the surface it was not very helpful, but it could bury itself with great rapidity. | On the surface it is not very helpful, except that it can bury itself with great rapidity |
| Over six weeks in Chapman's care the larvae ate a good many larvae, chiefly those of small moths and butterflies. | During the six weeks I had them at home before passing them on to Mr. Lucas they ate a good many larvae, chiefly of small Lepidoptera |
| When hungry, an antlion sucked its victim so dry that only a minute shred remained. | When hungry, the ant-lion sucked the larva very dry, so that a minute shred only remained |
| Chapman then passed two larvae on to W. J. Lucas. | before passing them on to Mr. Lucas ... One of the two could have been none the worse for its long fast |
| 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. | Possibly they do not feed during the winter ; at any rate they ate little or nothing till well on into the spring of the next year (note: 'until' for 'till') |
| One of the two, collected in summer 1904, produced an adult of good size about midsummer 1905. | I brought home several of these Ant-lion larva3 on Aug. 10th, 1904, having found them a week or so earlier ... it produced an imago of good size about midsummer (1905) (note: imago = adult; found late July or early August = summer) |
| The larva's mandibles (jaws) are described as formidable, built to trap prey. | the formidable larval mandibles are formed to serve as a trap to catch the prey in that stage |
| 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 | a spherical cocoon consisting of grains of sand cemented together by this gummy material (liquid silk) ... Having but the one cocoon |
| about nine-sixteenths of an inch across, roughly 14 millimetres. | being when completed about nine-sixteenths of an inch in diameter (note: 9/16 in = 14.3 mm) |
| Lucas noted that so small an insect had to produce a large adult. | so small an insect which had to produce so large an imago |
| The pupa's jaws are much reduced in size and do a single job: cutting an opening in the cocoon. | The pupal jaws are used in the insect's life for a single operation — the cutting of an opening in the cocoon. They are much reduced in size |
| The adult's jaws end up quite simple. | In the imago the mandibles have become quite simple in form |
| two captive larvae were offered live red wood ants in autumn and would have none of them. | passed on to me at the end ot September ... I supplied them with living specimens of the red ant of the fir-woods ... have none of these (note: red ant of the fir-woods = Formica rufa, the red wood ant; end of September = autumn) |
| 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. | appeared un-willing to accept anything I gave them. Possibly they do not feed during the winter |
| Before pupating, one ate one or two caterpillars. | Before pupating it ate one or two caterpillars |
| 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. | If the larva was too large, they avoided it ... the result was either that the larva jerked itself loose, or jerked the ant-lion out of the sand |
| A small one had no chance once it was caught. | A small larva, when once seized had no chance of escape |
| the larva left gummy threads across the sand and built a round cocoon of cemented sand grains. | threads of a gummy nature were noticed along the sand and across the box ... a spherical cocoon consisting of grains of sand cemented together |
| Inside, the adult uses the pupa's | an operation not, however, performed by the pupa (strictly speaking) but by the imago |
| small saw-edged jaws | They are much reduced in size, and the slender hairs are perhaps vestigial only (note: saw-edged from 'the saw-like edges' in the next claim) |
| to cut an opening at the top | The sharp points are well adapted for piercing the cocoon and the saw-like edges are equally well suited for enlarging the opening. |
| pushes the front of its body out and slips out of its old skin through a slit down its back. | after making an aperture at the top of the cocoon, protrudes the fore part of its body only ... Emergence of the imago then takes place from a dorsal slit |
| In a 1906 account, | TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906 (note: year of publication; the observations are 1904-1905 in captivity) |
| Not the larvae in a 1906 captive study. | TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906 (note: year of publication; the observations are 1904-1905 in captivity) |
| In Lucas's 1906 account, | TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906 (note: year of publication; the observations are 1904-1905 in captivity) |
| An antlion larva throws sand out of its pit with a backward jerk of the head | throwing out sand by the backward jerk of the head. This was done either in making a pit or in repairing it (note: vibe.reason) |
| can bury itself with great rapidity | it can bury itself with great rapidity (note: vibe.reason) |

## Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=982665

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Recorded from Africa, Europe, northern Asia (not China) and southern Asia | Geographic Division: Africa Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China) Southern Asia (note: stats.habitat) |
| Not Evaluated | Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767 (note: stats.conservationStatus. Anchors the species name only; the body makes no status claim. The prefetch (2026-10-11) found no Red List assessment: GBIF's copy holds no category for this name and Crossref searches under its synonyms failed with HTTP 429, so no IUCN reference is cited.) |
| is an antlion, a member of the family Myrmeleontidae, named by Linnaeus in 1767 | Family Myrmeleontidae Latreille, 1802 - antlions ... Species Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767 |
| files it in the order Neuroptera, alongside lacewings and mantisflies | Order Neuroptera Linnaeus, 1758 - ant lions, lacewings, mantisflies |
| records it from Africa, Europe, northern Asia (not China) and southern Asia. | Geographic Division: Africa Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China) Southern Asia |

## 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.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02027774

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A chemical study in 1989 looked at three antlion species and found the compounds nerol and 10-homonerol in M. formicarius. | Nerol (2a) and 10-homonerol (2b) were found in a third species,Myrmeleon formicarius (note: abstract only; 1989 is the reference year) |
| Its title calls such compounds volatile signals | volatile signals from three sympatric ant-lion species (note: title, checked against the reference's DOI metadata; 'evaporate easily into the air' glosses volatile) |