#formicaleon

[lpbestiary]

The Myrmecoleon, or ant-lion, is a fantastic beast that appears in several Medieval bestiaries. It is sometimes seen as a blend of the two animals, created from some unholy union. The lion part of the creature craves meat, while the ant part craves grain, and as a result, the Myrmecoleon starves.

Another interpretation of the Myrmecoleon is simply as a large ant, or some other small animal that hides in the dust and kills ants.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Suggest a spook.

[weekly-wonder-blog]

Myrmecoleon

This week’s fantastic being is the myrmecoleon. 

Image source: Geoff Gallice on Flickr. Of course, this is an antlion larva, not a lion-ant hybrid.

It is sometimes called a formicaleon, formicaleun, or mirmicioleon; all of these names mean “ant lion.” There are two legendary creatures going by this name: one is a large ant or small animal called “the lion of ants” because it hides in the dust and ambushes ants. The other is the progeny of a lion that mated with an ant. Its face is leonine, its body antlike, and its nature hybrid; the lion part will only eat meat, but the ant part can only digest grain, so the myrmecoleon starves. I don’t think I need to say that this legend is patently ridiculous in a way that rivals even the upland trout.

The myrmecoleon featured in mediaeval bestiaries, possibly as a mistranslation of the Hebrew word laissch, meaning lion, in the Book of Job. How exactly a person gets the myrmecoleon out of a simple mistranslation is left as an exercise for the reader. 

Don’t confuse the lion-ant hybrid for the antlion, an actual predator of ants; it is reasonable to assume, I think, that the “lion of ants” interpretation of the mermecoleon is simply the mediaeval bestiary version of the antlion larva.

Posted by Christian H.

[pouzingarou]

this is a myrmecoleon, something between a lion and a ant.

the most sad about this creature is that he is destined to die because the lion eat things that the ants don't stomach.