 The Myrmecoleon was a mythical ant @-@ lion hybrid written about in the 2nd century AD Physiologus , where animal descriptions were paired with Christian morals . The ant @-@ lion as described was said to starve to death because of its dual nature – the lion nature of the father could only eat meat , but the ant half from the mother could only eat grain chaff , thus the offspring could not eat either and would starve . It was paired with the Biblical verse Matthew 5 : 37 The fictional ant @-@ lion of Physiologus is probably derived from a misreading of Job 4 : 11 . 
