History Main / AntlionMonster

* ''VideoGame/Grounded'' has literal antlions as enemies, what with the player being shrunk to the size of an ant and trapped in an enormous backyard. The real life versions are every bit as hostile and terrifying here as the creatures they've inspired, building pit traps in the desert-esque sandbox and ambushing players like they would with actual ants.

** ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Sandworm, the second boss, waits at the bottom of a quicksand cone that drags you to him. He later reappears as a DegradedBoss in [[ShiftingSandLand Pecan Sands]].
** ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS'': The boss of the third world, Priscilla the Peckish, lives in a massive sand pit and eats the Shy Guys that fall into it, spits out Needlenoses at you and, if you try to jump over her, will leap up out of the sand pit and try to eat you, chewing on you for a few seconds and then spitting you out.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' has a giant antlion boss in it's desert level, which is even named "Antlion". When you encounter it it surprises you by surfacing from under the sand and attacking. Half it's body remains underground, while it moves through the sand and attacks you.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'': If you send a monster out on errantry in the desert themed area , the third hazard it needs to get past is a "Giant Antlion". If it succeeds, it manages to run up the sides of the sand pit, if it fails, it falls into it.

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being loose, it begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster". Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit, because by the time it's out, it's already a damselfly-like adult insect and looks like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmeleon_formicarius#/media/File:Myrmeleon_formicarius_(9564014813).jpg this]], not like [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Myrmeleon_formicaria_2.JPG this]].

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being loose, it begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster". Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit, because by the time it's out, it's already a damselfly-like adult insect and lookes like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmeleon_formicarius#/media/File:Myrmeleon_formicarius_(9564014813).jpg this]], not like [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Myrmeleon_formicaria_2.JPG this]].

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being fluid, begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster". Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit, because by the time it's out, it's already a damselfly-like adult insect and lookes like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmeleon_formicarius#/media/File:Myrmeleon_formicarius_(9564014813).jpg this]], not like [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Myrmeleon_formicaria_2.JPG this]].

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being fluid, begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster". Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit, because by the time it's out, it's already a damselfly-like adult insect and lookes like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmeleon_formicarius#/media/File:Myrmeleon_formicarius_(9564014813).jpg this]], not like [[https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr%C3%B3wkolew_pospolity#/media/Plik:Myrmeleon_formicaria_2.JPG this]].

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being fluid, begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster". Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit.

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4887be1b0767a26b3390116c6d1344be.png]]]]

** ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Sandworm, the second boss, waits at the bottom of a quicksand cone that drags you to him. He later reappears as a DegradedBoss in [[ShiftingSandLand Pecan Sands]].
** ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS'': The boss of the third world, Priscilla the Peckish, lives in a massive sand pit and eats the Shy Guys that fall into it, spits out Needlenoses at you and, if you try to jump over her, will leap up out of the sand pit and try to eat you, chewing on you for a few seconds and then spitting you out.

* In an episode of ''Anime/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', while crossing the Deadly Desert, the characters encounter a giant antlion.
* Menchi runs into one of these while crossing a desert in an episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga''.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', The Rock Spirit had the card Sand Doodlebug, which was a giant antlion larva.
* One shows up in an episode of ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'' as one of the many, many hazards of the DeathWorld where the protagonist is stranded.
* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of ''Anime/{{Dororo2019}}'', [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* The Sarlacc from ''Franchise/StarWars'' is a plant-like monster whose only visible part is its gaping tentacle-lined mouth, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sarlacc_full_shot.PNG hiding a much larger body.]]
* One such creature appears in ''Film/EnemyMine'', and uses a barbed tongue-like appendage to ensnare its prey.
* ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks'': One subset of the GiantSpider horde includes a small group of Trapdoor Spiders, who quickly begin snatching away people into their burrows when the whole town is under attack. One guy manages to get past them by throwing a ladder on top of the trapdoor in front of him and walking his way across.

* Creator/AndreNorton's ''Judgment on Janus''. Niall/Ayyar falls into a pit dug by a kalcrok (a large spider-like monster). The kalcrok skillfully fashioned the pit walls to be unclimbable, so after killing it he must crawl though its nest to find an exit.
* The antlion appears in ''[[Literature/TheMoomins The Moomins and the Great Flood]]'', ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Finn Family Moomintroll]]'', and the 90's anime series ''Anime/TanoshiiMuminIkka''. In this case the antlion is a black [[VisualPun lion-like]] creature that digs {{Pit Trap}}s at a beach.

** Antlar from ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', a {{Kaiju}} based on the stag beetle, often used antlion-style pits to ambush Ultraman and fight dirty. However, it also had a magnetizing beam as a BreathWeapon to pull enemies towards its massive mandibles.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* Charybdis from Myth/ClassicalMythology is a giant nautical version of this, with a whirlpool in place of a pit.
* Averted in the case of the mythical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecoleon Myrmecoleon]]: as a result of a [[LiteralMinded translation error]], [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction it's the offspring of a lion and an ant]] that's doomed to starve as one parent eats meat and the other eats plants.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1''. In the Lamakan desert, one can use Reveal on circles of rocks to see if they contain life-restoring oases. Sometimes they are revealed to be traps where an antlion's pincers are waiting; if it is, the party is forced to enter battle (sometimes Isaac is seen running as he is dragged backwards while the antlion [[SayItWithHearts Says It With Hearts]]). The antlion monster itself is a BigCreepyCrawly the size of a car.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Trapinch is an antlion-based Pokèmon that waits in its hole to capture prey, and like its RealLife counterpart, evolves into a dragonfly-like creature. Its Arena Trap ability prevents grounded enemies[[labelnote:*]]minus Ghost types as of Generation VI[[/labelnote]] from escaping.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': Snipper is an enemy with comically oversized antlion pincers that hides at the bottom of sandy pits.

* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', several of these appear in the desert area, and one has a save frog caught in his whirlpool of sand. Defeating the antlion frees the frog, allowing him to save your game.
* ''VideoGame/SimAnt'': Antlions are an obstacle that force you to be more careful with the auto-pathing, since your ant has no real sense of self-preservation.

* ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'': The Sorona map has a giant worm hiding in the bottom center. Hit the button just one jump above and the worm pops out to annihilate anything underneath.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'': The first boss for the UsefulNotes/GameGear and UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem is a Robotic Antlion. To defeat it, Sonic must dodge the cannonballs that Robotnik throws at him so that they will hit the Robotic Antlion. Eventually, Robotnik flies down at Sonic and Sonic must dodge him as well so Robotnik will inadvertently deliver the final hit. This boss is harder in the Game Gear version due to the reduced amount of space on the screen.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'', the [[http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Sand_Jaws Sand Jaws]] enemies lie on the sand and will bite Zero for slow but continuous pain if he touches them. The [[http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Quicksand_Mixer Quicksand Mixer]] enemy in the same level sucks Zero into a quicksand pit and deals strong collision damage if he touches them.
* ''VideoGame/AstroMarineCorps'' has the great Lasaarc lurking in a pit at the end of Zone 2. Try to jump over it, and it will spit your bones out.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' feature antlions as bosses. In the former, it borders on TragicMonster, as Edward explains it's tame right before it attacks him, and then almost breaks down crying after the group is forced to kill it. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the party again encounters an antlion in the same vein as the first game.... and it's perfectly tame, just as Edward originally said. In ''IX'', it's also fought as just a big mook in RandomEncounters or as a mini-boss around desert areas.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' has a giant antlion boss in it's desert level, which is even named "Antlion". When you encounter it it surprises you by surfacing from under the sand and attacking. Half it's body remains underground, while it moves through the sand and attacks you.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'': If you send a monster out on errantry in the desert themed area , the third hazard it needs to get past is a "Giant Antlion". If it succeeds, it manages to run up the sides of the sand pit, if it fails, it falls into it.
* In ''VideoGame/RibbitKing'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube and UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, the Lavatron planet has mouths sticking out of the ground, which the frogs can get stuck in as a hazard. Danny of ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' even noted their similarity to Sarlaccs when the Grumps played it.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': The Antlions, which pop out of the sand and attack you whenever you spend more than a fraction of a second on it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', antlions make up several pre-Hardmode desert enemies — not only the larvae that burrow in the sand, but also the winged adult.
* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} III'''s first boss is a giant antlion, though [[AllThereInTheManual the SNES manual]] [[CallARabbitASmeerp calls it the "Earwig Scorpion"]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} III'' has giant antlions in the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16-exclusive ShiftingSandLand stage. Sitting at the bottom of pits makes them difficult to attack.
* ''VideoGame/SpinMaster'' for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo has a giant antlion lurking in a [[QuicksandSucks desert quicksand pit]].
* ''VideoGame/MonsterGirlQuest'' has the Antlion Girl, for a CuteMonsterGirl variant. Luka gets trapped in her pit and has to defeat her before he reaches the bottom.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' the desert region known as Land's End has whirlpools of sand which ant-like monsters pop out of if you get too close.
** ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Sandworm, the second boss, waits at the bottom of a quicksand cone that drags you to him. He later reappears as a DegradedBoss in [[ShiftingSandLand Pecan Sands]].
** ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS'': The boss of the third world, Priscilla the Peckish, is this. She lives in a massive sand pit and eats the Shy Guys that fall into it, spits out Needlenoses at you, and if you try to jump over her, she will leap up out of the sand pit and try to eat you, chewing on you for a few seconds then spitting you out if she does.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001''. In the Lamakan desert, one can use Reveal on circles of rocks to see if they contain life-restoring oases. Sometimes they are revealed to be traps where an antlion's pincers are waiting; if it is, the party is forced to enter battle (sometimes Isaac is seen running as he is dragged backwards while the antlion [[SayItWithHearts Says It With Hearts]]). The antlion monster itself is a BigCreepyCrawly the size of a car.

** The giant ant lion first appeared in the 1st Edition's ''Monster Manual II''. It acted just like an oversized version of the real thing - digging a pit and waiting for victims to fall in. Once they did so it burst out and grabbed them with its huge mandibles, crushing them until they died.
** The same book introduced the Dust Digger, a Sarlaac-like creature that possessed similar ambush tactics, but modified with the additional ability to create mirages to lure prey.
** The long-term creature the Ankheg (present in nearly every version) could be considered to be a subversion - it physically resembles an ant lion nymph, even down to having venomous (or acidic) jaws - but does not create a cone or trap its prey, instead acting as a roving underground predator.

* Trapinch is an antlion-based Franchise/{{Pokemon}} that waits in its hole to capture prey, and like its RealLife counterpart, evolves into a dragonfly-like creature. Its Arena Trap ability prevents grounded enemies[[labelnote:*]]minus Ghost types as of Generation VI[[/labelnote]] from escaping.
* Sandworm, the second boss of ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'', waits at the bottom of a quicksand cone that drags you to him. He later reappears as a DegradedBoss in [[ShiftingSandLand Pecan Sands]].
* [[http://kirby.wikia.com/wiki/Snipper Snipper]] from the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series is an enemy with comically oversized antlion pincers that hides at the bottom of sandy pits.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' the desert region known as Land's End has whirlpools of sand which ant-like monsters pop out of if you get too close.
* Omega from ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' is a robot that waits for its victims (such as the player) buried in the sand to attack them by spewing numerous orbs before hiding again. After [[TurnsRed sufficient damage]], it resorts to hopping around instead moving under the sand.

* Antlions are an obstacle in ''VideoGame/SimAnt''. Basically, they force you to be more careful with the auto-pathing since your ant has no real sense of self-preservation.
* The giant Antlion Heartless, who serves as the third boss in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' is more like a SandWorm than an Antlion Monster, but it fits the key.
* The Sorona map in ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'' has a giant worm hiding in the bottom center. Hit the button just one jump above and the worm pops out to annihilate anything underneath.
* The first boss of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' for the UsefulNotes/GameGear and UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem is a Robotic Antlion. To defeat it, Sonic must dodge the cannonballs that Robotnik throws at him so that they will hit the Robotic Antlion. Eventually, Robotnik flies down at Sonic and Sonic must dodge him as well so Robotnik will inadvertently deliver the final hit. This boss is harder in the Game Gear version due to the reduced amount of space on the screen.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' have Antlion-like enemies called Devalants in Hyrule's desert area and the Sand Palace Dungeon. They bury themselves and create sand vortexes that they're visibly at the center of, and they try and get you to fall into. Some also shoot fireballs. You defeat them in the former game by attacking their heads while exposed, and in the latter by using the Sand Rod to get them above ground, then attacking them.

* The Sandbelching Meerslug fought in ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' is a hideous big-lipped worm that is fought in a patch of sand, and its main attacks involves antlion-like tactics. Be careful not to let any Pikmin fall in the sand funnels it creates...
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' has a giant antlion boss in it's desert level, which is even named "Antlion". When you encounter it it surprises you by surfacing from under the sand and attacking. Half it's body remains underground, while it moves through the sand and attacks you.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' feature antlions as bosses. In the former, it borders on TragicMonster, as Edward explains it's tame right before it attacks him, and then almost breaks down crying after the group is forced to kill it. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the party again encounters an antlion in the same vein as the first game.... and it's perfectly tame, just as Edward originally said.
** So does ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. It's actually one of the many recurring enemy types that span many of the games in the franchise, often as a boss, though sometimes as just a big mook in RandomEncounters or as a mini-boss around desert areas.
* If you send a monster out on errantry in the desert themed area in ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'', the third hazard it needs to get past is a "Giant Antlion". If it succeeds, it manages to run up the sides of the sand pit, if it fails, it falls into it.

* The boss of the third world in ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS'', Priscilla the Peckish, is this. She lives in a massive sand pit and eats the Shy Guys that fall into it, spits out Needlenoses at you, and if you try to jump over her, she will leap up out of the sand pit and try to eat you, chewing on you for a few seconds then spitting you out if she does.
* The UsefulNotes/PCEngine version of ''VideoGame/StriderArcade'' has a giant antlion as the mid-boss of the ShiftingSandLand stage.
* The aptly named Antlions of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', which pop out of the sand and attack you whenever you spend more than a fraction of a second on it.

* ''Spin Master'' for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo has a giant antlion lurking in a [[QuicksandSucks desert quicksand pit]].
* ''Monster Girl Quest'' has the Antlion Girl, for a CuteMonsterGirl variant. Luka gets trapped in her pit and has to defeat her before he reaches the bottom.

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being fluid, begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually ''eat'' in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster".
** Though it is utterly harmless to humans and it is actually quite gentle when not inside a pit.

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of ''Anime/{{Dororo2019}}, [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of ''Anime/{{Dororo}}, [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of Dororo, [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of {{Anime/Dororo(2019}}, [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of ''Anime/Dororo'', [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* You can see an antlion larva in an episode of Dororo, [[spoiler: which eats hyakkimaru's leg]].

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal''. In the Lamakan desert, one can use Reveal on circles of rocks to see if they contain life-restoring oases. Sometimes they are revealed to be traps where an antlion's pincers are waiting; if it is, the party is forced to enter battle (sometimes Isaac is seen running as he is dragged backwards while the antlion [[SayItWithHearts Says It With Hearts]]). The antlion monster itself is a BigCreepyCrawly the size of a car.

* Antlar from the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', a {{Kaiju}} resembling a bipedal stag beetle, often used antlion-style pits to ambush Ultraman and fight dirty. However, it also had a magnetizing beam as a BreathWeapon for a similar effect. Antlar proved to be a very popular monster, and has appeared in many more series since.
* ''Series/UltramanAce'' gives us Aribunta, a similar monster which is modified after an army ant, which is similarly capable of tunneling and creating massive sand pits to swallow opponents, in addition to Acid Breath and [[PlayingWithFire fire-spewing claws]].

** The Sandstorm sourcebook has a giant antlion as an enemy.
** The giant ant lion first appeared in Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in the Monster Manual II. It was Large (larger than human) size and acted just like the RealLife version - digging a pit and waiting for victims to fall in. Once they did so it burst out and grabbed them with its huge mandibles, crushing them until they died.

* Trapinch is a Franchise/{{Pokemon}} that waits in its hole to capture prey, and like its RealLife counterpart, evolves into a dragonfly-like creature. Its Arena Trap ability prevents grounded enemies[[labelnote:*]]minus Ghost types as of Generation VI[[/labelnote]] from escaping.

* TropeMaker: The antlion larva, of course. It wedges itself backward into sand, and the uses his head and mandibles to dig. Slowly it creates a funnel-shaped trap, with it at the center. And then it digs into the sand and waits. When something (usually an ant) falls into the funnel, the ant tries to get out, but the sand being fluid, begins to slide, preventing the ant from climbing it. [[YouWillNotEvadeMe So the ant lion tosses sand at it in order to increase the sandslide]], and to bring it down to it. That's when the antlion grabs it with its large, serrated mandibles, injects poison into it that liquefies the insides (it can't actually *eat* things in the normal sense) and then sucks the ant dry. So yeah, it deserves the title of "monster".

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'':

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIV'' and ''Videogame/FinalFantasyV'' feature antlions as bosses. In the former, it borders on TragicMonster, as Edward explains it's tame right before it attacks him, and then almost breaks down crying after the group is forced to kill it. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the party again encounters an antlion in the same vein as the first game.... and it's perfectly tame, just as Edward originally said.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' have Antlion-like enemies called Devalants in Hyrule's desert area and the Sand Palace Dungeon. They bury themselves and create sand vortexes that they're visibly at the center of, and they try and get you to fall into. Some also shoot fireballs. You defeat them in the former game by attacking their heads while exposed, and in the latter by using the Sand Rod to get them above ground, then attacking them.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' features Molgera, the boss of the Wind Temple, which combines the jaws and tactics of an antlion with the body of a SandWorm, spending most of the fight at the bottom of a sand pit waiting for Link to venture too close. Link needs to use the Hookshot from a safe distance to grab its sensitive tongue, while avoiding the smaller worms that the boss periodically spawns. Occasionally, Molgera will also erupt from the sand and fly around before dive-bombing Link, a strategy not often heard of for an AntlionMonster ''or'' a SandWorm.

* The UsefulNotes/PCEngine version of ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' has a giant antlion as the mid-boss of the ShiftingSandLand stage.