Gregarious antlion
Hagenomyia tristis
Name means: “gregarious means liking company, because it is often found in swarms”
The gregarious antlion is an African insect with long, see-through wings. It likes company, so you often find lots of them together in long grass under the trees. Its babies are clever little hunters that dig traps in the sand.
Lives in
Africa, from South Africa to Cameroon and Ethiopia, and Madagascar
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. The adults are gentle flying insects and do not sting.
What does it eat?
Its larva digs a pit in the sand and waits at the bottom. Small insects that slide in are caught and eaten.
How fast is it?
Gregarious antlion about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Big swarms of them gather in long grass in the shade of trees.
2
Its larva builds a sand pit trap, and an insect that tumbles in has a hard time climbing out.
3
Scientists think it copies the look of another insect, and the two often swarm together.
you asked
Most asked questions about Gregarious antlion
?What does an antlion larva eat?
Small insects, such as ants, that fall into its sand pit trap.
?Where does the gregarious antlion live?
In much of Africa, from South Africa up to Cameroon and Ethiopia, and on Madagascar.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hagenomyia tristis
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Myrmeleontidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Neuroptera > Myrmeleontidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- Hagenomyia tristis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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