Antlions are a family of insects in the order Neuroptera with the scientific name Myrmeleontidae sometimes misspelled as “Myrmeleonidae”; the most well-known genus is Myrmeleo. There are about 2,000 species. Strictly speaking, the term “antlion” applies to the larval form of the members of this family, but while several languages have their own terms for the adult, there is no widely used word for them in English. Very rarely, the adults are called “antlion lacewings”.The antlion larva is often called “doodlebug” in North America because of the odd winding, spiralling trails it leaves in the sand while looking for a good location to build its trap, as these trails look like someone has doodled in the sand. It is also sometimes called sand dragon.

via Antlion – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I found this when I was trying to show up John Scalzi on an article that he wrote over on his AMC Blog.  He says that the sarlac is a failed star wars creature design, and I say it’s based on insectoid FACT.

sorta.

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