Ant lion is an insect whose larva (young) digs a pit in the soil to trap ants and other small insects for its food. The adult ant lion looks like a dragonfly. The ant lion larva is often called the doodlebug.
The ant lion has a plump, hairy body. A pair of sword-shaped mandibles (jaws) extends from its narrow head. Three pairs of legs are found on its thorax (midsection). The ant lion can walk only backward.
The ant lion usually chooses a place with dry, sandy soil for its pit. It starts to work by walking around and around backward, pushing its tail like a shovel down into the sand behind it. The sand slides up over the ant lion’s broad back and toward its head. By jerking its head suddenly from time to time, the ant lion throws the sand to one side. It moves in smaller and smaller circles until it reaches the center of the circle. Then it has formed a funnel-shaped hole in the earth. This pit sometimes reaches as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) across and 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) deep or deeper.
The ant lion traps its prey by hiding under the sand at the bottom of the pit. If an ant crawls close to the edge of the pit, the soft sand slides away under its feet, and the ant falls into the pit. The ant lion then kills the ant with its jaws and sucks the juices from the ant’s body.
