wormlion
wormlion noun: the larva of a vermileonid.
Noun
wormlion (plural wormlions)
- The larva of a vermileonid.
- The worm-lion dislike a damp environment; you will never, therefore, find its pit in wet soil. For preference it chooses the loose, dusty soil beneath an overhanging rock, or on the lee side of a dense bush or hedge, where it is protected from the rain.1956, S.H.Skaife, African Insect Life
- Because larvae of antlions use a similar strategy to capture prey, the fly larvae are by analogy called wormlions. Their scientific names were also chosen to reflect their parallel lives. Antlions belong to the family Myrmeleontidae (myrmex = ant; leo = lion), and wormlions belong to the family...2009, James B. Nardi, Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners, page 179
Forms of wormlion
| plural | wormlions |
|---|---|
| alternative form | worm-lion |
| alternative form | worm lion |
Origin of wormlion
From worm + lion, by analogy with antlion.
Questions about wormlion
- What does wormlion mean?
- Wormlion means the larva of a vermileonid.
- What part of speech is wormlion?
- Wormlion is a noun.
- What is the plural of wormlion?
- The plural of wormlion is wormlions.
Words near wormlion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wormlion (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “wormlion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wormlion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.