2 September 2013
Monday macrobug: Antlion pits
Posted by Callan Bentley
In areas of soil protected from the rain, we find antlion pits in our yard…
These are traps, dug and maintained and occupied by the larvae of the family Myrmeleontidae. When a passing insect stumbles in, the antlion will throw sand grains and cause the hapless bug to tumble down, where the antlion snags it with a monstrous pair of jaws, and eats it.
The adults look like your standard insect; the larvae look like something out of HP Lovecraft. I tried digging some up to photograph, but either I didn’t go deep enough, or they were too quick for me. So for now, these traces of the animal will have to do…
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.