Moonie Bugs

My Grandmother Sheely was a shy woman who’s love ran deep. Grandma taught me quite a bit, as I spent many afternoons with her after school. One of the things she showed me, in the powdery dirt under the oak trees, were moonie bugs or at least their little cones in the dirt. We didn’t have moonie bugs in Madera but at Calvin Crest, during 6th grade Outdoor Education, I was able to show the kiddies moonie bug holes and even was able to catch a moonie bug for one group.

For the curious, moonie bugs are also called antlions. Some refer to them as doodle bugs, because they make a crooked line in the sand wandering around looking for a place to make their “cave”. Moonie bugs dig a cone shaped hole in powdery sand. When another unsuspecting insect falls in, they catch the poor creature with pinchers.

Now comes the moment you have been waiting for; why moonie bugs? 

Grandma taught me to “call” moonie bugs.  You have to imagine Grandma down on all fours, in her house dress, with her mouth close to the cone quietly calling “Mooniemooniemoonie…” For a long time, I thought I was “calling” them. In reality the vibration of the voice causes little grains of sand to fall down the cone, exciting the antlion at the bottom. If you keep calling you will see his pincers disturbing the bottom of the cone. Make a quick grab and you can scoop him out. The antlion is not a particularly handsome fellow, but a catch is a catch. A bunch of sixth graders, kneeling like puppies, calling “mooniemooniemoonie” is a rare sight and sound.

In the old barn, below the house, moonie bugs have made their cones in the sand. The cones are small, so I am guessing business is not very good, This one is probably 3/4 of an inch across: