Behavioral Plasticity and Variation in Pit Construction of Antlion Larvae in Substrates with Different Particle Sizes

Behavioral plasticity allows animals to maximize their fitness in a variety of environmental conditions. Trap‐building predators represent case studies in such plasticity as the characteristics of their traps are dependent upon the substrate available. We investigated the effect of sand particle size on pit construction in antlions (Euroleon nostras), sand‐dwelling insect larvae that build pitfall traps to capture prey. The pit construction behavior of the species comprises six stages. When antlions were exposed to different sand particle sizes, their behavior differed in terms of the occurrence and duration of particular stages and in the frequency of jerks produced during sand tossing. Jerk frequency was negatively correlated with sand particle size and also changed during pit construction. Furthermore, at larger particle sizes, individuals occasionally constructed irregular traps with a figure of eight shape, and they crossed the center of the truncated cone during deepening. In the largest substrate, particle size of antlions did not construct pits. Our results demonstrate that variation in traps under differing environmental conditions stems directly from behavioral plasticity in this species.