Myrmeleontidae (family)

5 Unidentified Antlion Lacewing at Fadden, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

	Myrmeleontidae (family)	23 Dec 2018	KimPullen
	Unidentified	23 Dec 2018	YumiCallaway

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

User's notes

Found a perfectly conical pit. The antlion was located just under the fine sand about 1cm down from the edge and 1.5cm from the bottom. The pit was functioning perfectly with a dead ant at the bottom and 3 ants, each of different species falling in during the 7 minutes of observation. The next day I went back again and the antlion had made a perfect pit 5cm away from the pit from the day before which was messy from searching for the antlion. Knowing it's the same individual and not wanting to disturb it again, I took a photo of the relocation distance and left it alone. Probably still there, feeding on ants from the multiple ant nest entrances nearby. The movement of the antlion was very interesting to watch - there are videos in the following link as well as a photo of the relocation (sorry about the videos which went out of focus - it was very difficult with my camera wanting to focus on the edge of the pit, not the bottom): https://photos.app.goo.gl/YrSkbpeyRwFLsFKm7

1 comment

YumiCallaway wrote:

28 Dec 2018

I returned to the same location on the 24th of December and it wasn't there anymore. The fine sand was concentrated on where the pit was on my second visit, but no sign of the insect.

Please Login or Register to comment.