A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1054 entries
antlion
The larva of a lacewing-like insect, which digs a conical pit in fine dry sand, buries itself at the bottom with only its jaws showing, and waits. An ant that steps over the rim slides down a slope held deliberately at the angle of repose, and the larva flicks sand upward to keep it sliding. The adult is delicate, nocturnal, and looks like a weak damselfly, which is why hardly anybody connects the two animals.
Etymology
A translation of Greek myrmēkoleōn — myrmex, ant, plus leōn, lion.
Notes
The pit only works in loose, dry, fine grain, which is why they line the sheltered dust under overhangs, porches, and desert rock. Across much of the American South, they are doodlebugs.