This is for cachers who don't like
getting their feet wet or hate long walks. We listed the
container as a small because it is smaller than an ammo box.
This cache is the lite™ version of
our other cache in this park called
Tea Street Cache. The trails are easy and dry but there is a
small hill (Florida Style) involved. Presence of saw palmettos may
discourage naked caching.
Like many other parks and recreation
areas, the large gate is not for me and you. It's in case
Forestry or emergency/firefighting vehicles need access. If
you look to the left of the gate at this site you will see
where you can walk right through. This area is intended for
pedestrian traffic only. Just like a lampost micro, the
entrances will be easier to find once you've seen the first.
No fence hopping necessary.
As you walk down the sandy path ,
you may encounter ant
lions.
ANT LIONS: THE HAIRY PREDATOR FROM
DOWN UNDER (and I don't mean Australia)
If
ant lions were the size of humans, we'd live in almost constant
fear of falling into their traps, being drained of blood by their
large, hypodermic-like jaws, and discarded like fast food trash.
Sound like a horror movie? Life as an insect can read like science
fiction. The drama of the voracious, bizarre-bodied, predatory ant
lion and its death pit will surely amaze and terrify you. Where
there is sand there are ant lions! These hairy, backward-moving
creatures--known to many as doodlebugs--are fascinating insects to
watch, easy to find every month of the year, simple to catch, and
can be kept indoors for several weeks with minimal effort, should
you decide to keep one as a pet. The ant lion also makes a good
contrast to the wolf spider, another digging and ambushing
predator. Ant lions are very accessible. They are very common all
over Florida and are often found near buildings. These insects will
give you a little area of specialized knowledge about a very
interesting animal that you can share with friends, relatives, and
cellmates.
Background Information
Ant lions are the larvae of a group of insects called
Neuroptera, which includes lacewings and dobsonflies. Active day
and night, larval ant lions are usually light gray or brown, have
fat, hairy, segmented bodies, short legs, and long curved jaws on
tiny heads (I think I dated her once). Some species are very small
and others can be as big as your fingernail! They move backward
most of the time and tickle when they "doodle" in your hand. Their
stiff hairs point forward, which helps to anchor the ant lion in
the sand, even when struggling with prey. Ant lions are not harmful
to people and will not pinch you with their jaws. Typically, they
"play dead" when held.
The adult ant lion resembles a damselfly, but is a weak
flyer. Usually nocturnal, adult ant lions are rarely seen. You
might encounter one resting on a vertical twig or grass stem or see
one near a light at night.
The Drama of the Pit
After mating, the female ant lion lays many eggs in soft
dry sand. After the eggs hatch, the larvae will build pits in the
sand under undisturbed cover, such as palmetto leaves, dead leaves,
roof eaves, and even in tree hollows. Because most prey are too
fast for the ant lions to catch, building pits is a very energy
efficient way for it to get food. Although the meal is usually an
ant, ant lions will eat other small insects that fall into their
pits. Because beetles are slick and hard, ant lions often have
trouble capturing them.
Ant lions build their traps by spiraling around and around
from the top of the pit at the surface of the sand to the deep
point in the funnel. The ant lion then sits at the bottom with its
body covered by a thin layer of sand and waits, with open jaws, for
its prey to slip in. To be effective, the trap must be kept neat.
If small objects, such as pebbles or bits of plant material fall
into the pit, the ant lion will try to clear them away. After a
rainy or windy day, the ant lion often needs to reshape its pit. If
it doesn't catch enough prey in its trap, the ant lion often
abandons it and moves to another location.
The ant lion's pit is steep and slippery. The ant lion uses
fine grains of sand, which hold together to form a steep slope and
are likely to slide when touched. When an insect falls into the pit
and struggles to escape, the ant lion quickly responds by flicking
sand grains. These bombard the prey and cause more sand to slide to
the bottom of the pit, sweeping the prey down with it. The open,
ready jaws snap shut and the ant lion slowly pulls the struggling
prey underground to secure its capture. Digestive juices and a
toxin are then injected into the prey's body, liquefying everything
but the exoskeleton. After sucking the liquid meal up through its
jaws, the ant lion tosses the exoskeleton from the
pit.
Ant lions have predators, too. Their pits alert birds to a
potential snack! Parasitic wasps and flies often lay eggs on ant
lions. Once the eggs of the parasitic wasp hatch, their larvae
consume the ant lion.
When the ant lion larva reaches full size, it pupates
within a small ball of sand and silk just under the surface at the
bottom of its pit. The pupa is very well camouflaged and difficult
to find. When ant lions die or pupate, their pits become messy or
disappear.
Hunting is not the pits…
Some ant lion species do not build pits, but are easily
recognized by the unique doodle-like trail they leave in the sand
as they actively hunt for prey. The hunting ant lion can usually be
found at one end of the trail. Pit making ant lions also doodle
briefly just before making their pits or moving to another
location. Just how do they find ants if they're hunting backwards
in the sand?
How to Catch and Care for Ant
Lions
Search dry, undisturbed sand for funnel-like pits.
Particularly good sites will often have many pits clustered
together. An active pit will be neat and well formed. If you look
carefully, you may even be able to see the ant lion's jaws at the
bottom of the pit, open in anticipation. With a cup or spoon,
carefully scoop out a thin layer of sand at the base of pit or at
the end of trail. Search the sand carefully for the ant lion. They
are usually very well camouflaged and are especially difficult to
see if they "play dead."
Once you have a captive ant lion, make sure to provide it
daily with ants or other insects and a drop of water about every
three days. A hunter ant lion will need room to make its trail, but
a pitmaker will be content in a cup. You may want to line the top
of your container with petroleum jelly to keep the ants from
getting out. Ant lions ar not the greatest conversationalist but
they won't hog all the blankets either. Make sure you give your ant
lion a ferocious name so everybody will give your new friend the
respect he/she deserves. Have fun.
Much of the above text was stolen from
www.archbold-station.org in an effort to teach you a little about
Florida ecology.
Have fun and good
luck.