Tenerife forum

[bardofely]

Last night I had the balcony door open and Tiggy drew my attention to something which had flown into the curtain attracted by the light. At first I thought it was a damselfly but could soon see it was actually an adult antlion, an insect I have never seen at close hand before.

I captured it to get some photos and then put it back out and closed the door. Searching online I have found hardly any info on the species I had and there's not a lot in my book either but it was the species Myrmeleon alternans. It was about 2 inches long and looked amazing!

They are called antlions because the larvae make burrow traps in the sand in which they lie in wait for ants and small insects, which they seize with their huge mandibles.



Antlion (Myrmeleon alternans)


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[margaretbl]

Bard as usuall excellent Photos, now we would have called that a dragonfly
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Failures don't plan to fail, they fail to plan
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[bardofely]

[margaretbl]

thanks, educated again
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Failures don't plan to fail, they fail to plan
(Harvey Mackay)

[MaryJ]

Wonderful photos bard, and more knowledge.

Thanks for educating us.
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[bardofely]

Thank you, Mary!
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