A friend, Mary Heinle of White Sulphur Springs (a wonderful selfless lady who, by the way, has donated enough pints of blood over the years to almost fill an Olympic-size swimming pool), called the house the other day and left me a message. She said her son Kevin had helped her identify some doodlebugs and asked if I knew what they were.

Being an old “motorhead”, of course I know what doodlebugs are. One of my relatives, Chet, always has a couple of them around that he’s wrenching on. You take an old car like a Model A Ford and chop off half or two-thirds of the frame and mount a rear axle out of something like an old Dodge truck to it. Shorten up and weld together the two stubs of the driveshafts and – voila – doodlebug!

Actually, Mary was speaking about insects, specifically the larvae of the Antlion. Sit back and relax while we explore these fascinating creatures.

There are approximately 2,000 different species of Antlion worldwide. Although scientists are not really sure, they seem to have gotten their name from the combination of the two words, ant and lion. Their larvae are ferocious predators of ants.

The insects themselves don’t live very long as compared to the larvae. Adults are large flying insects about the size of damselflies or dragonflies, which they are often confused with. In some areas adults are called Antlion Lacewings.

The larva of the antlion is called a doodlebug because of the very distinct tracks that it makes. It is unable to walk forward and moves around by constantly backing up in small squiggly paths which have earned it the name doodlebug since its tracks resemble random doodles. Tracks from the larvae are frequently visible in sand and mud.

Antlion larvae dig pits in the ground and ambush prey that walk by (most commonly ants). They are voracious predators. Sometimes, if the ground is too hard, they bury themselves in leaf litter or other debris to wait in ambush.

Antlions range in size from about an inch all the way up to almost six inches for some tropical species. The largest ones here in North America have wingspans of about four inches.

Doodlebugs have enormous jaws and subdue their prey by injecting venom. They also inject enzymes to digest the prey. Unlike most other insects, they have sealed digestive tracts and don’t excrete waste. Instead, they store it up in their bodies and use some of it to spin silk for their cocoons.

Doodlebugs are able to detect the vibrations of their prey moving along the ground with special receptors. Changes in the timing of the waves of the vibrations are used to judge the direction of the movement and the distance to the victim. This is a standard Doppler shift like used in RADAR, only on a really, really small scale. Okay, say it with me everyone. Isn’t nature amazing?

I opened by mentioning blood donations (Kudos, Mary!), and in closing I want to remind everyone of the current critical shortage. Won’t you join me if you can and roll up your sleeve? Together we can save lives while we all enjoy the outdoors!

John S. Van Etten is the current president of the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County, Inc.