with an wingspan, and most North American species approach this size. The adult has two pairs of long, narrow, multiveined, translucent wings and a long, slender abdomen. Although they somewhat resemble dragonflies or damselflies, they belong to a different infraclass of winged insects. Antlion adults are easily distinguished from damselflies by their prominent, apically clubbed antennae which are about as long as the head and thorax combined. Also, the pattern of wing venation differs, and compared to damselflies, the adults are very feeble fliers and are normally found fluttering about at night in search of a mate. Adult antlions are typically nocturnal, and rarely seen by day. Males of most species have a unique structure, a bristle-bearing knob known as a "pilula axillaris", at the base of the rear wing. The abdomen in males is usually longer than in females and often has an extra lobe. The tip of the abdomen of females shows greater variation than that of males, depending perhaps on oviposition sites, and usually bears tufts of bristles for digging and a finger-like extension. The antlion larva has a robust fusiform body, a very plump abdomen, and a thorax bearing three pairs of walking legs. The prothorax forms a slender mobile "neck" for the large, square, flattened head, which bears an enormous pair of sickle-like jaws with several sharp, hollow projections. The jaws are formed by the maxillae and mandibles; the mandibles each contain a deep groove over which the maxilla fits neatly, forming an enclosed canal for injecting venom to immobilise the victim, and enzymes to digest its soft parts. The larva is clad in forward-pointing bristles which help it to anchor itself and exert greater traction, enabling it to subdue prey considerably larger than itself. Antlion larvae are unusual among insects in lacking an anus. All the metabolic waste generated during the larval stage is stored; some is used to spin the silk for the cocoon and the rest is eventually voided as meconium at the end of its pupal stage. Distribution There are about 2,000 species of antlion found in most parts of the world, with the greatest diversity being in warmer areas. The best known species are those in which the larvae dig pits to trap their prey, but not all species do this. Antlions live in a range of usually dry habitats including open woodland floors, scrub-clad dunes, hedge bases, river banks,