Dear Steemians! Very good days.

How are you?
This time I want to share this post about an animal that caught my attention

Photo taken from: http://wikifaunia.com/invertebrados/hormiga-leon/

it's all about the larva of the ant lion with that fierce look

Photo taken from: http://aquadico.com/forum/1478/ma-passion-pour-les-insectes/?page=2&username=maele

When we speak of the ant lion, this name of ferocious predator is credited to the larva, which lives in sandy soils and where it digs a conical hole that is funnel shaped, and in the bottom it hides, leaving only its jaws protruding. They have two antennas.

Author of the photo: @issalimew
Sony 5MP camera

We know them as "ant lion" but in reality they are not ants, obviously they are not lions either, they are neuroptera of the family Myrmeleontidae. Externally they are very similar to dragonflies, although their flight is much weaker when a little breeze blows to cling to a stem to avoid being blown by the wind, but their antennas are much more developed, in terms of the length of their antennas measure approximately equal to that of the head and thorax together.
In addition to the aforementioned other major features.
Their larvae in realities what led me to make this post as they are strange looking animals, they have jaws that look menacing and developed in a complex way, they are usually big in size and with the necessary strength to devour more species small insects. These larvae live buried in the bottom of conical holes that they dig in the sand or dust that accumulates in sheltered places.

These holes act as traps to catch small insects, especially ants that slide along the edge of these traps to the larva that waits at the bottom when it catches its prey as can be seen in the following videos

author of the video: @Issalimew

author of the video: @Issalimew

and it is so quick to devour it that its prey can not escape and ends up adsorbing its juice from the softest zone and is not even aware of what happens. These are not true jaws, but hollow mouth pieces with which sucks the juices of his victim:

author of the video: @Issalimew

They can reach approximately 1 cm in length. It passes the pupal phase in spring, inside a cocoon covered with sand. They communicate through pheromones. Their eggs are placed on the vegetation, on the ground or slightly buried. They are found in tropical regions, although in Europe there are some genera, reaching a species even up to Finland.
In summary:
COMMON NAME: Lion ant.
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Myrmeleon formicarius
ORDER: Neuroptera
FAMILY: Myrmeleonidae
LENGTH: About 11 cm.
FEEDING: Insects, even of the same species, etc.

Bibliography
http://naturalista12.blogspot.com/2009/08/una-hormiga-leon.html
http://macroinstantes.blogspot.com/2007/12/hormiga-len.html
http://naturalezacantabrica.blogspot.com/2009/07/la-trampa-de-la-hormiga-leon.html
http://hablemosdeinsectos.com/hormigas-leon/
http://wikifaunia.com/invertebrados/hormiga-leon/
http://aquadico.com/forum/1478/ma-passion-pour-les-insectes/?page=2&username=maele

Well my friends Steemians, if you like do not forget to leave your comment.
I hope it has been to your liking, see you in a next post.
We continue reading in a next post.
Thanks for reading until the end. I hope this information will help people.
Any questions, leave your comment at the bottom.