«Breaking News» Footage reveals terrifying tactics antlion insect predators use to lure prey into their death traps

Antlions have shown scientists exactly how they construct their sophisticated death traps.  

By using a spiral digging method, antlions separate and remove large sand grains to make the ground treacherous for small creatures. 

The cone-shaped trap formed is lined with unstable small grains and for any small creature straying in, the sand gives way and cause them to sink.

All the while, the antlion lies in wait with its its hook-like mandibles ready to grab any prey that become trapped in the saned.

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Antlions, one of the most nightmarish insect predators, perform a constructional 'conjuring trick' to build their deadly pit traps, scientists have discovered. This image shows an Antlion larva in its natural environment

Like something from a horror movie, the antlion lies in wait at the bottom of the trap, ready to grab the prey in hook-like mandibles and drain its bodily fluids.

To study how antlions build their traps, scientists filled tubs with beach sand containing a mixture of large and small grains and filmed the insects - technically insect larvae - at work.

They were surprised by the extraordinary ability of antlions to eliminate the large grains.

Professor Nigel Franks, from the University of Bristol, said: 'It is almost like a conjuring trick - many more large grains are ejected than seems possible.

'One answer is that the antlion is 'interrogating' much more sand to find and eject large grains than just the volume of sand that has to be removed to form the final pit.'

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Laboratory experiments showed how they employ a super-efficient spiral digging technique to separate and remove large sand grains. This image shows a still from the time lapse footage captured by researchers of the antlions behaviour

The team turned to computer simulations to learn more about the way antlions methodically dig in spiral patterns and set off miniature avalanches.

Prof Franks added: 'This technique is a superbly efficient time-saving method that literally enables antlions to plough through a large volume of sand, such that the small avalanches they create cause large sand grains differentially to cascade to the bottom of the construction trench, where they can be preferentially ejected during pit construction.'

Lining the pit traps with fine sand grains makes them extremely prone to avalanches, said the researchers, wring in the report.

'Any prey item that ventures into the pit will ride an avalanche down to the deadly antlion at the bottom of the pit,' said Prof Franks. 

'Such pits are an intriguing example of the ever-present force of natural selection that shapes biology.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The final cone-shaped trap is lined with unstable small grains which immediately give way under the feet of any small creature unfortunate enough to stray into it. This image shows an anlion trap in the wild

Like something from a horror movie, the antlion lies in wait at the bottom of the trap, ready to grab the prey in hook-like mandibles and drain its bodily fluids. This image shows a 20x close up of an antlion larva's mandibles

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/27/footage-reveals-terrifying-tactics-antlion-insect-predators-use-to-lure-prey-into-their-death-traps/
Main photo article Antlions have shown scientists exactly how they construct their sophisticated death traps.  
By using a spiral digging method, antlions separate and remove large sand grains to make the ground treacherous for small creatures. 
The cone-shaped trap formed is lined with unstable small grains and fo...

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