One common bug that is chronically misunderstood is the Antlion— both its adult and larvae form are often mistaken for other species or regarded as alien in nature. The truth is, the species is shockingly diverse! An Antlion is any Myrmeleontidae species in the Neuroptera family, also known as net-winged insects (this family includes the common green lacewing!). The adults are long bodied with thin wings and often get mistaken for dragonflies or damselflies, while the larvae are often found in the sand creating burrows to trap ants in and startle many with their appearance.

The Antlion larvae creates a large funnel shaped trap, where it hides at the bottom, waiting for ants to wander by and fall in for it to eat. Click this for a handy diagram!

There’s over 2000 species of Antlions that are found world wide. Anywhere you can find deserts and or sand pits! In North America, They mostly reside in the south western United States and the most common species is

Myrmeleon obsoletus

Not all species live in the warm sand though! Some species, like Euroleon nostras can live in the colder climates of Europe. Interestingly, the Antlion larvae don’t use their large jaws to create their funnel trap— they actually use their large shovel shaped bodies to dig in a slow spiral motion until settling itself on the bottom with just its jaws outside the sand.

That is, if they make traps at all! Many Antlion species, such as Dendroleon obsoletus don’t make traps. While all of the Antlion larvae are predatory, this species actively hunts without traps! It lies in wait under leaf litter or loose dirt to jump out and grab its prey. When the Antlion is ready, it will spin a cocoon of loose dirt or sand and silk it produces, and grows into its adult form. It spends a vast majority of its life cycle, sometimes years, as a larvae and tends to grow quicker with more abundant food sources. It tends to only live 25 to 45 days as an adult, and some don’t have mouths to feed once grown. Unfortunately, like many bugs, many adult forms purely exist to breed and continue the species; thus not warranting long adult lives. The adult species that do eat, tend to feed on pollen and nectar.
Tragically, the fossil records of this species haven’t been well documented, but the most closely related species is Owlflies, another ambush predatory insect. Some records suggest Antlions have existed for over 150 MILLION years.
Antlions are also often used in media, pop culture, and folk lore to represent some sort of hell-like trap as well as representing alien-like creatures in games such as in Mother 3, Terraria, and Final Fantasy. They are truly fascinating all around and that’s why they’re the perfect choice for the first common bug to discuss.

Thank you for reading! I hope you keep an eye out for Antlions and manage to spot one in your day to day life!