Read my previous post for the story of how I acquired this adult Ant Lion. Just a short while after I put her in a jar she passed away. I placed her on a yellow Post(mortem)It for her last photo. An impressive-looking insect roughly resembling Dobsonflies, Lacewings, and others that tend to gather around light bulbs at night. I have watched the work of the larvae of this insect for years, as they stay beneath the sand at the bottoms of the "funnels" they create to trap ants. When I've come across one of these funnels where there were no ants in sight, I've caught ants a short distance away and fed them to the tunnel. The Ant Lion larvae detect the presence of ants and start pulling sand away from the bottom of the funnel, causing mini landslides that bring the ants into the grasp of its impressive jaws. Occasionally, I've been able to get a shovel or trowel beneath the larva to catch it and get a few photos. When released on the sand, they very quickly construct new traps.
No comments:
Post a Comment