#4012 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects
Spotted-wing antlion
🇳🇱 Gevlekte mierenleeuw ·Euroleon nostras
🦗 Bugs, crickets & other insects 📍 in the Netherlands
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Euroleon nostras is a species of antlion found over most of Europe. The scientific name can be translated as "our European lion". 8 in). The larvae prey on ants and other small creatures and require dry sandy soil in which to dig their pitfall traps.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 114 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 3,915 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy in 1785 (241 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Spotted-wing antlion
- Nederlands
- Gevlekte mierenleeuw
- scientific name
- Euroleon nostras
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Neuroptera
- family
- Myrmeleontidae
- sightings in NL
- 114
- sightings in Europe
- 3,415
- sightings worldwide
- 3,915
- GBIF records in NL
- 4,193
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1785 by Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy
relatives· Myrmeleontidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 362343, Wikidata Q1317005, GBIF 2097902, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.