Pleasing Picture-winged Antlion

 

Here's something you don't see every day, or at least I don't: Pleasing Picture-winged Antlion (Glenurus gratus). This huge - 4" wingspan! - insect is a southern species, near the northern limits of its range in Hocking County, Ohio, where this one appeared at mothing lights. Unlike better known antlion species, whose larvae create conical pitfall traps in soft soil ("doodlebugs" or "demons of the dust"), the predatory larvae of this species live in tree holes. They live in the woodchips and debris at the hole's bottom, feeding opportunistically on whatever small invertebrates come their way. Apparently, they can live for up to two years in the larval stage. The adults are quite ephemeral, lasting probably only a few days, if that. July 28, 2022.