Antlion Larva - a photo on Flickriver

Antlion Larva

            Have you ever noticed precise, conical divots in soft earth beneath large trees or at the base of cliffs? The conical pits are ant traps, dug and maintained by antlion larva, which may occupy the trap for two or three years before transforming to an adult (see first comment). 

The larva lies patiently, just barely beneath the surface at the bottom of the pit, waiting for the sound and vibration of sliding sand, meaning that a beetle or spider or ant has fallen into the trap and is trying to climb out. The larva grabs it with its large jaws, injects venom to immobilize the prey and enzymes that turn the prey's tissues to mush. The antlion then siphons the digested material through the mandibles and tosses the hollow carcass out of the trap.

This is a live larva (promptly returned to its trap after this shot) caught beneath pines in a ponderosa pine forest in Boulder, Colorado.

Taken on: August 26, 2020

Tags:

antlion

larva

animal

Colorado

wildlife

EarthNatureLife

[Wonders of Nature] « less

Sets appears in: • Just for fun • animals

Groups appears in: • Macro Photography • Nature Heals the Soul more » • *Earth *Nature *Life • Photography with a Story • This is Why I Bought A Camera • animals and insects and plant trees on planet Earth. • US Wildlife • Flickrology « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/16.0, 1/1000 sec, 252mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	EF180mm f/3.5L Macro USM +1.4x
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	252mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 21.2 (Macintosh)
Show full info

Stats: 1,152 views / 5 comments

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder