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100-458: See text The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae . They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae , which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae are sometimes referred to as doodlebugs because of the marks they leave in the sand. The adult insects are less well known due to their relatively short lifespans in comparison with

200-423: A mutation–selection balance . It is predicted that a viral quasispecies at a low but evolutionarily neutral and highly connected (that is, flat) region in the fitness landscape will outcompete a quasispecies located at a higher but narrower fitness peak in which the surrounding mutants are unfit, "the quasispecies effect" or the "survival of the flattest". There is no suggestion that a viral quasispecies resembles

300-400: A "classical" method of determining species, such as with Linnaeus, early in evolutionary theory. However, different phenotypes are not necessarily different species (e.g. a four-winged Drosophila born to a two-winged mother is not a different species). Species named in this manner are called morphospecies . In the 1970s, Robert R. Sokal , Theodore J. Crovello and Peter Sneath proposed

400-424: A 'smallest clade' idea" (a phylogenetic species concept). Mishler and Wilkins and others concur with this approach, even though this would raise difficulties in biological nomenclature. Wilkins cited the ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan 's early 20th century remark that "a species is whatever a suitably qualified biologist chooses to call a species". Wilkins noted that the philosopher Philip Kitcher called this

500-428: A connected series of neighbouring populations, each of which can sexually interbreed with adjacent related populations, but for which there exist at least two "end" populations in the series, which are too distantly related to interbreed, though there is a potential gene flow between each "linked" population. Such non-breeding, though genetically connected, "end" populations may co-exist in the same region thus closing

600-437: A deep groove over which the maxilla fits neatly, forming an enclosed canal for injecting venom to immobilise the victim, and enzymes to digest its soft parts. The larva is clad in forward-pointing bristles which help it to anchor itself and exert greater traction, enabling it to subdue prey considerably larger than itself. Antlion larvae are unusual among insects in lacking an anus . All the metabolic waste generated during

700-549: A different four subfamilies: Ascalaphinae , Myrmeleontinae , Dendroleontinae , and Nemoleontinae . Jones dissented with Machado et al. and presented an alternative classification, elevating the Ascalaphinae, Palparinae, and Stilbopterygidae of the prior revision to family level and treating only a single subfamily in Myrmeleontidae. However, this classification has been rejected by Hévin et al. (2023), finding

800-432: A different species from its ancestors. Viruses have enormous populations, are doubtfully living since they consist of little more than a string of DNA or RNA in a protein coat, and mutate rapidly. All of these factors make conventional species concepts largely inapplicable. A viral quasispecies is a group of genotypes related by similar mutations, competing within a highly mutagenic environment, and hence governed by

900-468: A few genera, mostly fossil , are of uncertain or basal position. The fossil record of antlions is very small by neuropteran standards. However, some Mesozoic fossils attest to the antlions' origin more than 150 million years ago. These were at one time separated as the Palaeoleontidae, but are now usually recognized as early antlions. The supra-generic classification within the Myrmeleontidae

1000-402: A finger-like extension. The antlion larva has a robust fusiform body, a very plump abdomen, and a thorax bearing three pairs of walking legs. The prothorax forms a slender mobile "neck" for the large, square, flattened head, which bears an enormous pair of sickle-like jaws with several sharp, hollow projections. The jaws are formed by the maxillae and mandibles ; the mandibles each contain

1100-508: A genetic boundary suitable for defining a species concept is present. DNA barcoding has been proposed as a way to distinguish species suitable even for non-specialists to use. One of the barcodes is a region of mitochondrial DNA within the gene for cytochrome c oxidase . A database, Barcode of Life Data System , contains DNA barcode sequences from over 190,000 species. However, scientists such as Rob DeSalle have expressed concern that classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding, which they consider

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1200-420: A globular cocoon of sand or other local substrate stuck together with fine silk spun from a slender spinneret at the rear end of the body. The cocoon may be buried several centimetres deep in sand. After completing its transformation into an adult insect over the course of about one month, it emerges from the case, leaving the pupal integument behind, and works its way to the surface. After about twenty minutes,

1300-465: A lineage should be divided into multiple chronospecies , or when populations have diverged to have enough distinct character states to be described as cladistic species. Species and higher taxa were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as categories that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being . In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time. Charles Darwin 's 1859 book On

1400-484: A long, slender abdomen . Although they somewhat resemble dragonflies or damselflies , they belong to a different infraclass of winged insects . Antlion adults are easily distinguished from damselflies by their prominent, apically clubbed antennae which are about as long as the head and thorax combined. Also, the pattern of wing venation differs, and compared to damselflies, the adults are very feeble fliers and are normally found fluttering about at night in search of

1500-462: A mate. Adult antlions are typically nocturnal , and rarely seen by day. Males of most species have a unique structure, a bristle-bearing knob known as a "pilula axillaris", at the base of the rear wing. The abdomen in males is usually longer than in females and often has an extra lobe. The tip of the abdomen of females shows greater variation than that of males, depending perhaps on oviposition sites, and usually bears tufts of bristles for digging and

1600-492: A misnomer, need to be reconciled, as they delimit species differently. Genetic introgression mediated by endosymbionts and other vectors can further make barcodes ineffective in the identification of species. A phylogenetic or cladistic species is "the smallest aggregation of populations (sexual) or lineages (asexual) diagnosable by a unique combination of character states in comparable individuals (semaphoronts)". The empirical basis – observed character states – provides

1700-449: A particular species, including which genus (and higher taxa) it is placed in, is a hypothesis about the evolutionary relationships and distinguishability of that group of organisms. As further information comes to hand, the hypothesis may be corroborated or refuted. Sometimes, especially in the past when communication was more difficult, taxonomists working in isolation have given two distinct names to individual organisms later identified as

1800-400: A perfect model of life, it is still a useful tool to scientists and conservationists for studying life on Earth, regardless of the theoretical difficulties. If species were fixed and clearly distinct from one another, there would be no problem, but evolutionary processes cause species to change. This obliges taxonomists to decide, for example, when enough change has occurred to declare that

1900-424: A range of usually dry habitats including open woodland floors, scrub -clad dunes , hedge bases, river banks, road verges, under raised buildings and in vacant lots. Apart from pit-trap-forming taxa, the biology of members of the family Myrmeleontidae, to which the antlions belong, has been little studied. The life-cycle begins with oviposition ( egg -laying) in a suitable location. The female antlion repeatedly taps

2000-400: A short way of saying that something applies to many species within a genus, but not to all. If scientists mean that something applies to all species within a genus, they use the genus name without the specific name or epithet. The names of genera and species are usually printed in italics . However, abbreviations such as "sp." should not be italicised. When a species' identity is not clear,

2100-523: A slanting funnel in the sand. Its victim, the Ant, slides down the slant and is then stoned, from the bottom of the funnel, by the hunter, who turns his neck into a catapult." In Japan , both the insect and its pit-traps are popularly known as Arijigoku ( 蟻地獄 , lit. "Ant Hell") . This term has since become a stock colloquialism for any "inescapable" trap, whether literal or metaphorical ( i.e. an unpleasant social obligation). Antlions appear as antagonists in

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2200-404: A specialist may use "cf." before the epithet to indicate that confirmation is required. The abbreviations "nr." (near) or "aff." (affine) may be used when the identity is unclear but when the species appears to be similar to the species mentioned after. With the rise of online databases, codes have been devised to provide identifiers for species that are already defined, including: The naming of

2300-523: A species as groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups. It has been argued that this definition is a natural consequence of the effect of sexual reproduction on the dynamics of natural selection. Mayr's use of the adjective "potentially" has been a point of debate; some interpretations exclude unusual or artificial matings that occur only in captivity, or that involve animals capable of mating but that do not normally do so in

2400-400: A species as determined by a taxonomist. A typological species is a group of organisms in which individuals conform to certain fixed properties (a type), so that even pre-literate people often recognise the same taxon as do modern taxonomists. The clusters of variations or phenotypes within specimens (such as longer or shorter tails) would differentiate the species. This method was used as

2500-491: A species. All species definitions assume that an organism acquires its genes from one or two parents very like the "daughter" organism, but that is not what happens in HGT. There is strong evidence of HGT between very dissimilar groups of prokaryotes , and at least occasionally between dissimilar groups of eukaryotes , including some crustaceans and echinoderms . The evolutionary biologist James Mallet concludes that there

2600-685: A species. Generally the term includes the unknown element of a distinct act of creation. Many authors have argued that a simple textbook definition, following Mayr's concept, works well for most multi-celled organisms , but breaks down in several situations: Species identification is made difficult by discordance between molecular and morphological investigations; these can be categorised as two types: (i) one morphology, multiple lineages (e.g. morphological convergence , cryptic species ) and (ii) one lineage, multiple morphologies (e.g. phenotypic plasticity , multiple life-cycle stages). In addition, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) makes it difficult to define

2700-528: A taxonomic decision at the discretion of cognizant specialists, is not governed by the Codes of Zoological or Botanical Nomenclature, in contrast to the PhyloCode , and contrary to what is done in several other fields, in which the definitions of technical terms, like geochronological units and geopolitical entities, are explicitly delimited. The nomenclatural codes that guide the naming of species, including

2800-517: A traditional biological species. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has since 1962 developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses; this has stabilised viral taxonomy. Most modern textbooks make use of Ernst Mayr 's 1942 definition, known as the Biological Species Concept as a basis for further discussion on the definition of species. It is also called a reproductive or isolation concept. This defines

2900-447: A variation on the morphological species concept, a phenetic species, defined as a set of organisms with a similar phenotype to each other, but a different phenotype from other sets of organisms. It differs from the morphological species concept in including a numerical measure of distance or similarity to cluster entities based on multivariate comparisons of a reasonably large number of phenotypic traits. A mate-recognition species

3000-515: A variety of reasons. Viruses are a special case, driven by a balance of mutation and selection , and can be treated as quasispecies . Biologists and taxonomists have made many attempts to define species, beginning from morphology and moving towards genetics . Early taxonomists such as Linnaeus had no option but to describe what they saw: this was later formalised as the typological or morphological species concept. Ernst Mayr emphasised reproductive isolation, but this, like other species concepts,

3100-438: Is "an entity composed of organisms which maintains its identity from other such entities through time and over space, and which has its own independent evolutionary fate and historical tendencies". This differs from the biological species concept in embodying persistence over time. Wiley and Mayden stated that they see the evolutionary species concept as "identical" to Willi Hennig 's species-as-lineages concept, and asserted that

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3200-400: Is a group of sexually reproducing organisms that recognise one another as potential mates. Expanding on this to allow for post-mating isolation, a cohesion species is the most inclusive population of individuals having the potential for phenotypic cohesion through intrinsic cohesion mechanisms; no matter whether populations can hybridise successfully, they are still distinct cohesion species if

3300-452: Is a population of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring , typically by sexual reproduction . It is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity . Other ways of defining species include their karyotype , DNA sequence, morphology , behaviour, or ecological niche . In addition, paleontologists use

3400-458: Is a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment. According to this concept, populations form the discrete phenetic clusters that we recognise as species because the ecological and evolutionary processes controlling how resources are divided up tend to produce those clusters. A genetic species as defined by Robert Baker and Robert Bradley is a set of genetically isolated interbreeding populations. This

3500-441: Is a voracious predator. Within a few minutes of seizing its prey with its jaws and injecting it with venom and enzymes , it begins to suck out the digestion products. The larva is extremely sensitive to ground vibrations, the low-frequency sounds made by an insect crawling across the ground; the larva locates the source of the vibrations by the differences in timing of the arrival of waves detected by receptors , tufts of hairs on

3600-588: Is based on an antlion. The fictional sarlacc from the Star Wars franchise is often compared to the real-life antlion. It also appears as a predator in the film Enemy Mine . In the third book of Tove Jansson 's Moomins series, Finn Family Moomintroll , a rather large and fanciful antlion appears in the second chapter, depicted as a sand-dwelling predator with the literal head of a lion . [REDACTED] Media related to Myrmeleontidae at Wikimedia Commons Species A species ( pl. : species)

3700-414: Is called speciation . Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book The Origin of Species . Speciation depends on a measure of reproductive isolation , a reduced gene flow. This occurs most easily in allopatric speciation, where populations are separated geographically and can diverge gradually as mutations accumulate. Reproductive isolation

3800-412: Is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature , also sometimes in zoological nomenclature ). For example, Boa constrictor is one of the species of the genus Boa , with constrictor being the species' epithet. While the definitions given above may seem adequate at first glance, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example,

3900-430: Is costly. The larvae therefore have low metabolic rates and can survive for long periods without food. They can take several years to complete their life-cycle; they mature faster with plentiful food, but can survive for many months without feeding. In cooler climates they dig their way deeper and remain inactive during the winter. When the larva attains its maximum size, it pupates and undergoes metamorphosis . It makes

4000-403: Is described formally, in a publication that assigns it a unique scientific name. The description typically provides means for identifying the new species, which may not be based solely on morphology (see cryptic species ), differentiating it from other previously described and related or confusable species and provides a validly published name (in botany) or an available name (in zoology) when

4100-575: Is disputed by different authors. Several different schematics have been proposed. Stange recognized three subfamilies, consisting of Stilbopteryginae , Palparinae , and Myrmeleontinae . Brachynemurinae , Dendroleontinae , and other subfamilies recognized by prior authors were placed in the Myrmeleontinae . Michel et.al recognized just four subfamilies, consisting of Acanthaclisinae , Myrmeleontinae , Palparinae , and Stilbopteryginae . . A subsequent revision by Machado et.al recognized

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4200-569: Is filtered out of the soil during pit construction. The larvae prefer dry places protected from the rain. When it first hatches, the tiny larva specialises in very small insects, but as it grows larger, it constructs larger pits, and thus catches larger prey, sometimes much larger than itself. Other arthropods may make use of the antlion larva's ability to trap prey. The larva of the Australian horsefly ( Scaptia muscula ) lives in antlion (for example Myrmeleon pictifrons ) pit traps and feeds on

4300-671: Is further weakened by the existence of microspecies , groups of organisms, including many plants, with very little genetic variability, usually forming species aggregates . For example, the dandelion Taraxacum officinale and the blackberry Rubus fruticosus are aggregates with many microspecies—perhaps 400 in the case of the blackberry and over 200 in the dandelion, complicated by hybridisation , apomixis and polyploidy , making gene flow between populations difficult to determine, and their taxonomy debatable. Species complexes occur in insects such as Heliconius butterflies, vertebrates such as Hypsiboas treefrogs, and fungi such as

4400-726: Is hard or even impossible to test. Later biologists have tried to refine Mayr's definition with the recognition and cohesion concepts, among others. Many of the concepts are quite similar or overlap, so they are not easy to count: the biologist R. L. Mayden recorded about 24 concepts, and the philosopher of science John Wilkins counted 26. Wilkins further grouped the species concepts into seven basic kinds of concepts: (1) agamospecies for asexual organisms (2) biospecies for reproductively isolated sexual organisms (3) ecospecies based on ecological niches (4) evolutionary species based on lineage (5) genetic species based on gene pool (6) morphospecies based on form or phenotype and (7) taxonomic species,

4500-403: Is no easy way to tell whether related geographic or temporal forms belong to the same or different species. Species gaps can be verified only locally and at a point of time. One is forced to admit that Darwin's insight is correct: any local reality or integrity of species is greatly reduced over large geographic ranges and time periods. The botanist Brent Mishler argued that the species concept

4600-478: Is not valid, notably because gene flux decreases gradually rather than in discrete steps, which hampers objective delimitation of species. Indeed, complex and unstable patterns of gene flux have been observed in cichlid teleosts of the East African Great Lakes . Wilkins argued that "if we were being true to evolution and the consequent phylogenetic approach to taxa, we should replace it with

4700-538: Is often called a "doodlebug" in North America because of the odd winding, spiralling trails it leaves in the sand while relocating, which look as if someone has been doodling . The scientific name of the type genus Myrmeleo  – and thus, the family as a whole – is derived from Ancient Greek mýrmex (μύρμηξ) "ant" + léon (λέων) "lion", in a loan translation of the names common across Europe. In most European and Middle Eastern languages, at least

4800-586: Is similar to Mayr's Biological Species Concept, but stresses genetic rather than reproductive isolation. In the 21st century, a genetic species could be established by comparing DNA sequences. Earlier, other methods were available, such as comparing karyotypes (sets of chromosomes ) and allozymes ( enzyme variants). An evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) or "wildlife species" is a population of organisms considered distinct for purposes of conservation. In palaeontology , with only comparative anatomy (morphology) and histology from fossils as evidence,

4900-431: Is sometimes an important source of genetic variation. Viruses can transfer genes between species. Bacteria can exchange plasmids with bacteria of other species, including some apparently distantly related ones in different phylogenetic domains , making analysis of their relationships difficult, and weakening the concept of a bacterial species. Ovipositor Some ovipositors only retract partly when not in use, and

5000-594: Is threatened by hybridisation, but this can be selected against once a pair of populations have incompatible alleles of the same gene, as described in the Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model . A different mechanism, phyletic speciation, involves one lineage gradually changing over time into a new and distinct form (a chronospecies ), without increasing the number of resultant species. Horizontal gene transfer between organisms of different species, either through hybridisation , antigenic shift , or reassortment ,

5100-521: The morphology of the organ is related to the life history. Members of the Dipteran (fly) families Tephritidae and Pyrgotidae have well-developed ovipositors that are partly retracted when not in use, with the part that sticks out being the oviscape. Oestridae , another family within Diptera, often have short hairy ovipositors, the species Cuterebra fontinella has one of the shortest within

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5200-530: The ICZN for animals and the ICN for plants, do not make rules for defining the boundaries of the species. Research can change the boundaries, also known as circumscription, based on new evidence. Species may then need to be distinguished by the boundary definitions used, and in such cases the names may be qualified with sensu stricto ("in the narrow sense") to denote usage in the exact meaning given by an author such as

5300-457: The basal part that sticks out is known as the scape , or more specifically oviscape , the word scape deriving from the Latin word scāpus , meaning "stalk" or "shaft". Grasshoppers use their ovipositors to force a burrow into the earth to receive the eggs. Cicadas pierce the wood of twigs with their ovipositors to insert the eggs. Sawflies slit the tissues of plants by means of

5400-399: The fly agaric . Natural hybridisation presents a challenge to the concept of a reproductively isolated species, as fertile hybrids permit gene flow between two populations. For example, the carrion crow Corvus corone and the hooded crow Corvus cornix appear and are classified as separate species, yet they can hybridise where their geographical ranges overlap. A ring species is

5500-507: The jaguar ( Panthera onca ) of Latin America or the leopard ( Panthera pardus ) of Africa and Asia. In contrast, the scientific names of species are chosen to be unique and universal (except for some inter-code homonyms ); they are in two parts used together : the genus as in Puma , and the specific epithet as in concolor . A species is given a taxonomic name when a type specimen

5600-406: The "cynical species concept", and arguing that far from being cynical, it usefully leads to an empirical taxonomy for any given group, based on taxonomists' experience. Other biologists have gone further and argued that we should abandon species entirely, and refer to the "Least Inclusive Taxonomic Units" (LITUs), a view that would be coherent with current evolutionary theory. The species concept

5700-516: The 1991 life simulation video game , SimAnt , and (in a giant form) in the Final Fantasy series, Grounded , Terraria , Don't Starve Together , Monster Rancher 2 , Mother 3 and in the Half-Life 2 video game series as an unrelated alien insect species sharing sand burowing traits with the real antlion larvae. The Trapinch, Vibrava, and Flygon Pokémon evolution line

5800-626: The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection . That understanding was greatly extended in the 20th century through genetics and population ecology . Genetic variability arises from mutations and recombination , while organisms themselves are mobile, leading to geographical isolation and genetic drift with varying selection pressures . Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal gene transfer ; new species can arise rapidly through hybridisation and polyploidy ; and species may become extinct for

5900-405: The abbreviation "sp." in the singular or "spp." (standing for species pluralis , Latin for "multiple species") in the plural in place of the specific name or epithet (e.g. Canis sp.). This commonly occurs when authors are confident that some individuals belong to a particular genus but are not sure to which exact species they belong, as is common in paleontology . Authors may also use "spp." as

6000-526: The adult's wings are fully opened and it flies off in search of a mate. The adult is considerably larger than the larva as antlions exhibit the greatest disparity in size between larva and adult of any type of holometabolous insect. This is by virtue of the fact that the exoskeleton of the adult is extremely thin and flimsy, with an exceptionally low density . The adult typically lives for about 25 days, but some insects survive for as long as 45 days. Antlion larvae eat small arthropods – mainly ants – while

6100-573: The adults of some species eat pollen and nectar , and others are predators of small arthropods. In certain species of Myrmeleontidae, such as Dendroleon pantherinus , the larva, although resembling that of Myrmeleon structurally, makes no pitfall trap, but hides in detritus in a hole in a tree and seizes passing prey. In Japan, Gatzara jezoensis larvae lurk on the surface of rocks for several years while awaiting prey; during this time they often become coated with lichen , and have been recorded at densities of up to 344 per square metre. The larva

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6200-570: The amount of hybridisation is insufficient to completely mix their respective gene pools . A further development of the recognition concept is provided by the biosemiotic concept of species. In microbiology , genes can move freely even between distantly related bacteria, possibly extending to the whole bacterial domain. As a rule of thumb, microbiologists have assumed that members of Bacteria or Archaea with 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences more similar than 97% to each other need to be checked by DNA–DNA hybridisation to decide if they belong to

6300-500: The avalanches which carry prey are as large as possible. Since the sides of the pit consist of loose sand at its angle of repose, they afford an insecure foothold to any small insects that inadvertently venture over the edge, such as ants. Slipping to the bottom, the prey is immediately seized by the lurking antlion; if it attempts to scramble up the treacherous walls of the pit, it is speedily checked in its efforts and brought down by showers of loose sand which are thrown at it from below by

6400-474: The biological species concept, "the several versions" of the phylogenetic species concept, and the idea that species are of the same kind as higher taxa are not suitable for biodiversity studies (with the intention of estimating the number of species accurately). They further suggested that the concept works for both asexual and sexually-reproducing species. A version of the concept is Kevin de Queiroz 's "General Lineage Concept of Species". An ecological species

6500-505: The biological species concept, a cladistic species does not rely on reproductive isolation – its criteria are independent of processes that are integral in other concepts. Therefore, it applies to asexual lineages. However, it does not always provide clear cut and intuitively satisfying boundaries between taxa, and may require multiple sources of evidence, such as more than one polymorphic locus, to give plausible results. An evolutionary species, suggested by George Gaylord Simpson in 1951,

6600-428: The boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation , in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies , and in a ring species . Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually , the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies. Although none of these are entirely satisfactory definitions, and while the concept of species may not be

6700-409: The center. As it slowly moves round and round, the pit gradually gets deeper and deeper, until the slope angle reaches the critical angle of repose (that is, the steepest angle the sand can maintain, where it is on the verge of collapse from slight disturbance), and the pit is solely lined by fine grains. By digging in a spiral when constructing its pit, the antlion minimises the time needed to complete

6800-433: The concept of a chronospecies can be applied. During anagenesis (evolution, not necessarily involving branching), some palaeontologists seek to identify a sequence of species, each one derived from the phyletically extinct one before through continuous, slow and more or less uniform change. In such a time sequence, some palaeontologists assess how much change is required for a morphologically distinct form to be considered

6900-416: The concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses ) are given a two-part name , called a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part

7000-720: The duration is not likely to convey substantial survival benefits to the larvae. The closest living relatives of antlions within the Myrmeleontoidea are the owlflies (Ascalaphidae); the Nymphidae are more distantly related. The extinct Araripeneuridae and Babinskaiidae are considered likely to be stem groups in the Myrmeleontiformia clade . The phylogeny of the Neuroptera has been explored using mitochondrial DNA sequences, and while issues remain for

7100-435: The evidence to support hypotheses about evolutionarily divergent lineages that have maintained their hereditary integrity through time and space. Molecular markers may be used to determine diagnostic genetic differences in the nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of various species. For example, in a study done on fungi , studying the nucleotide characters using cladistic species produced the most accurate results in recognising

7200-503: The family. Ovipositors exist not only in winged insects , but also in Apterygota , where the ovipositor has an additional function in gathering the spermatophore during mating. Little is known about the egg-laying habits of these insects in the wild. Female bitterlings in the genus Rhodeus have an ovipositor in the form of a tubular extension of the genital orifice. During breeding season, they use it when depositing eggs in

7300-560: The group as a whole (the " Hemerobiiformia " being paraphyletic ), the Myrmeleontiformia is generally agreed to be monophyletic , giving the following cladogram : Osmylidae (formerly in "Hemerobiiformia") [REDACTED] Mantispidae (mantidflies) [REDACTED] Ithonidae (moth lacewings) [REDACTED] Chrysopidae (green lacewings) [REDACTED] Nymphidae (split-footed lacewings) [REDACTED] Myrmeleontidae (antlions) [REDACTED] Ascalaphidae (owlflies) [REDACTED] The subfamilies are shown below;

7400-565: The host's immune system and prevent it from destroying the eggs. However, in virtually all stinging Hymenoptera , the ovipositor is no longer used for egg-laying. An exception is the family Chrysididae , members of the Hymenoptera, in which species such as Chrysis ignita have reduced stinging apparatus and a functional ovipositor. Fig wasp ovipositors have specialized serrated teeth to penetrate fruits, but gall wasps have either uniform teeth or no teeth on their ovipositors, meaning

7500-437: The jaws of the larva are hollow and through this, the larva sucks the fluids out of its victim. After the contents are consumed, the dry carcass is flicked out of the pit. The larva readies the pit once again by throwing out collapsed material from the center, steepening the pit walls to the angle of repose. Antlion larvae require loose soil, not necessarily, but often, sand. Antlions can also handle larger granular material which

7600-416: The larva. By throwing up loose sand from the bottom of the pit, the larva also undermines the sides of the pit, causing them to collapse and bring the prey with them. Thus, it does not matter whether the larva actually strikes the prey with the sand showers. Antlion larvae are capable of capturing and killing a variety of insects and other arthropods , and can even subdue small spiders . The projections in

7700-503: The larvae are known under the local term corresponding to "antlion". Antlions can be fairly small to very large neuropterans , with wingspans ranging from 2 to 15 cm (0.8 to 5.9 in). The African genus Palpares contains some of the largest examples. Acanthaclisis occitanica is the largest European species, with an 11 cm (4.3 in) wingspan, and most North American species approach this size. The adult has two pairs of long, narrow, multiveined, translucent wings and

7800-548: The larvae can easily excavate their pits, but some larvae hide under debris or ambush their prey among leaf litter . Antlions are poorly represented in the fossil record . Myrmeleontiformia is generally accepted to be a monophyletic group, and within the Myrmeleontoidea , the antlions' closest living relatives are thought to be the owlflies (Ascalaphidae). A 2019 study finds Myrmeleontidae to be monophyletic, aside from Stilbopteryginae and Palparinae , which form separate clades closer to Ascalaphidae. The predatory actions of

7900-415: The larvae have attracted attention throughout history and antlions have been mentioned in literature since classical times. The exact meaning of the name "antlion" is uncertain. It has been thought to refer to ants forming a large percentage of the prey of the insect, the suffix "lion" merely suggesting "destroyer" or "hunter". In any case, the term seems to go back to classical antiquity . The antlion larva

8000-487: The larvae. Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings , mostly fly at dusk or just after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies . Antlions have a worldwide distribution. The greatest diversity occurs in the tropics, but a few species are found in cold- temperate locations, one such being the European Euroleon nostras . They most commonly occur in dry and sandy habitats where

8100-411: The larval stage is stored; some is used to spin the silk for the cocoon and the rest is eventually voided as meconium at the end of its pupal stage. There are about 2,000 species of antlion found in most parts of the world, with the greatest diversity being in warmer areas. The best known species are those in which the larvae dig pits to trap their prey, but not all species do this. Antlions live in

8200-488: The longest egg-laying organs (relative to body size) known. The stingers of the Aculeata (wasps, hornets, bees, and ants) are ovipositors, highly modified and with associated venom glands . They are used to paralyze prey, or as defensive weapons. The penetrating sting plus venom allows the wasp to lay eggs with less risk of injury from the host. In some cases, the injection also introduces virus particles that suppress

8300-439: The mantle cavity of freshwater mussels , where their eggs develop in reasonable security. Seahorses have an ovipositor for introducing eggs into the brood pouch of the male, who carries them until it is time to release the fry into a suitable situation in the open water. The marbled newt , or Triturus marmoratus, females participate in parental investment by ovipositing their eggs. They carefully wrap them in aquatic leaves as

8400-483: The numerous fungi species of all the concepts studied. Versions of the phylogenetic species concept that emphasise monophyly or diagnosability may lead to splitting of existing species, for example in Bovidae , by recognising old subspecies as species, despite the fact that there are no reproductive barriers, and populations may intergrade morphologically. Others have called this approach taxonomic inflation , diluting

8500-440: The ovipositor and so do some species of long-horned grasshoppers . In the ichneumon wasp genus Megarhyssa , the females have a slender ovipositor (terebra) several inches long that is used to drill into the wood of tree trunks . These wasps are parasitic in the larval stage on the larvae of horntail wasps, hence the egg must be deposited directly into the host's body as it is feeding. The ovipositors of Megarhyssa are among

8600-593: The paper is accepted for publication. The type material is usually held in a permanent repository, often the research collection of a major museum or university, that allows independent verification and the means to compare specimens. Describers of new species are asked to choose names that, in the words of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature , are "appropriate, compact, euphonious, memorable, and do not cause offence". Books and articles sometimes intentionally do not identify species fully, using

8700-674: The person who named the species, while the antonym sensu lato ("in the broad sense") denotes a wider usage, for instance including other subspecies. Other abbreviations such as "auct." ("author"), and qualifiers such as "non" ("not") may be used to further clarify the sense in which the specified authors delineated or described the species. Species are subject to change, whether by evolving into new species, exchanging genes with other species, merging with other species or by becoming extinct. The evolutionary process by which biological populations of sexually-reproducing organisms evolve to become distinct or reproductively isolated as species

8800-420: The pit. When the pit is completed, the larva settles down at the bottom, buried in the soil with only the jaws projecting above the surface, often in a wide-opened position on either side of the very tip of the cone. The steep-sloped trap that guides prey into the larva's mouth while avoiding crater avalanches is one of the simplest and most efficient traps in the animal kingdom. The fine grain lining ensures that

8900-538: The prey caught, and the female chalcid wasp ( Lasiochalcidia igiliensis ) purposefully allows itself to be trapped so that it can parasitise the antlion larva by ovipositing between its head and thorax. Recent research has found that antlion larvae often "play dead" for a variable amount of time (from a few minutes up to an hour) when disturbed to hide from predators. The method is effective; it increased survival rates in patches that use it by 20%. Furthermore, they appear to have maximized its usefulness—further increasing

9000-446: The prospective laying site with the tip of her abdomen and then inserts her ovipositor into the substrate and lays an egg. Depending on the species and where it lives, the larva either conceals itself under leaves, debris or pieces of wood, hides in a crack or digs a funnel-shaped pit in loose material. As ambush predators , catching prey is risky because food arrives unpredictably and, for those species that make traps, maintaining one

9100-487: The result of misclassification leading to questions on whether there really are any ring species. The commonly used names for kinds of organisms are often ambiguous: "cat" could mean the domestic cat, Felis catus , or the cat family, Felidae . Another problem with common names is that they often vary from place to place, so that puma, cougar, catamount, panther, painter and mountain lion all mean Puma concolor in various parts of America, while "panther" may also mean

9200-586: The ring. Ring species thus present a difficulty for any species concept that relies on reproductive isolation. However, ring species are at best rare. Proposed examples include the herring gull – lesser black-backed gull complex around the North pole, the Ensatina eschscholtzii group of 19 populations of salamanders in America, and the greenish warbler in Asia, but many so-called ring species have turned out to be

9300-406: The same sort of pit to feed on ants. Having marked out the chosen site with a circular groove, the antlion larva begins to crawl backward, using its abdomen as a plough to dig up the soil. Using one of its front legs, it places heaps of loosened particles upon its head which it then flicks clear of the scene of operations. Continuing in this way, it gradually works its way from the circumference toward

9400-508: The same species. This concept was narrowed in 2006 to a similarity of 98.7%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) method quantifies genetic distance between entire genomes , using regions of about 10,000 base pairs . With enough data from genomes of one genus, algorithms can be used to categorize species, as for Pseudomonas avellanae in 2013, and for all sequenced bacteria and archaea since 2020. Observed ANI values among sequences appear to have an "ANI gap" at 85–95%, suggesting that

9500-529: The same species. When two species names are discovered to apply to the same species, the older species name is given priority and usually retained, and the newer name considered as a junior synonym, a process called synonymy . Dividing a taxon into multiple, often new, taxa is called splitting . Taxonomists are often referred to as "lumpers" or "splitters" by their colleagues, depending on their personal approach to recognising differences or commonalities between organisms. The circumscription of taxa, considered

9600-468: The sides of the two hindmost thoracic segments. Funnel-shaped pits are built by members of just 3 antlion tribes: Myrmeleontini , Myrmecaelurini , and Nesoleontini . In these trap-building species, an average-sized larva digs a pit about 2 in (5 cm) deep and 3 in (7.5 cm) wide at the edge. This behavior has also been observed in the Vermileonidae ( Diptera ), whose larvae dig

9700-506: The species concept and making taxonomy unstable. Yet others defend this approach, considering "taxonomic inflation" pejorative and labelling the opposing view as "taxonomic conservatism"; claiming it is politically expedient to split species and recognise smaller populations at the species level, because this means they can more easily be included as endangered in the IUCN red list and can attract conservation legislation and funding. Unlike

9800-576: The taxonomic decisions to be "not substantiated, with only the family name Palparidae being mentioned in isolation." In popular folklore in the southern United States, people recite a poem or chant to make the antlion come out of its hole. Similar practices have been recorded from Africa, the Caribbean, China and Australia. The Myrmecoleon was a mythical ant–lion hybrid written about in the 2nd century AD Physiologus , where animal descriptions were paired with Christian morals. The ant-lion as described

9900-540: The wild. It is difficult to define a species in a way that applies to all organisms. The debate about species concepts is called the species problem. The problem was recognised even in 1859, when Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species : I was much struck how entirely vague and arbitrary is the distinction between species and varieties. He went on to write: No one definition has satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of

10000-505: Was said to starve to death because of its dual nature – the lion nature of the father could only eat meat , but the ant half from the mother could only eat grain chaff , thus the offspring could not eat either and would starve. It was paired with the Biblical verse Matthew 5:37 . The fictional ant-lion of Physiologus is probably derived from a misreading of Job 4:11. The French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre wrote that "The Ant-lion makes

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