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Antlions are a family of insects, classified as Myrmeleontidae, from the Greek "myrmex", meaning "ant", and "leon", meaning "lion". Antlions are small, fully developed larvae being 1.5 cm, and adults being 4 cm. Antlions are omnivorous. The antlion larvae eat ants and other insects, while the adult antlion eats pollen and nectar.
Depending on species and where it lives, the larvae will either hide under leaves or pieces of wood, or dig pits in sandy areas. The larvae wait for prey to fall into its hiding place. When another insect falls into a sand pit, the antlion kicks sand at it, making more sand fall to the bottom, effectively trapping the prey. The larva then sucks the body fluid out of its prey and discards the empty shell.
Adult anlions resemble dragonflies or damselflies, but are weaker fliers. The adult antlion is only active at night, spending its days resting.
Fiction
In the computer game Half-Life 2, antlions are an alien threat and pest on Earth. They mostly live in sandy areas like beaches and live in underground colonies. They usually hide under the sand, waiting for anything unlucky to cross its path and then quickly surface and tear it apart.
Antlions are a constant and lethal pest for people living in areas near them, though both the Resistance and the Combine have different ways of dealing with them. The resistance uses pheropods, or "bugbait", containing Antlion pheromones to control and tame the Antions. The Combine, however, use "thumpers" - large machines that repeatedly pound the ground and form "safe zones" that Antlions will not cross.
In addition to normal Antlions, there are also Antlion Guards. These are far larger and stronger versions of Antlions, and have the ability to issue orders to other Antlions. Bugbait has no effect on them, seeing as how Antlion Guards are the ones who orginally possessed the pheromones bugbait contains.
In the game, Gordon Freeman fights these killer insects until he finds a Resistance base that offers him Bugbait. With the help of the bugbait, Gordon goads the Antlions into attacking the maximum security prison Nova Prospekt.
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