Antlions, also called ant ants, were a kind of large ant. The antlions on First University's campus were thumb-sized and grass-green. Their scientific name in the Encyclopedia of the Wizarding World was "Green Ant."
Green Ants preferred cool, shady places and fed on fish dew and Tree moss. Used in medicine, they could treat heat toxins and sores. Some alchemists even refined them into certain metals to obtain specific magical effects.
Unlike ordinary ants, which lived in enormous colonies, Green Ants usually operated in family units.
Each Green Ant family consisted of one queen, three to five males, and over a dozen young ants. In this respect, Green Ants had a social structure similar to Magical Creatures such as Werewolves, nagas, and centaurs.
These magical insects remained active throughout the year. During the day, they hid in underground burrows. At dusk, they crawled to the surface, mixing saliva with clumps of dirt to build special cylindrical anthills about an inch high: Moon-Gazing Platforms. Once the anthills were complete, the Green Ants climbed onto them in order—normally, the queen stayed in the center while the young ants could only remain at the edges. They lay there silently, absorbing moonlight and the Yin energy of the night.
After long-term observation, Magical Creature researchers discovered that while lying atop their anthills, these Green Ants formed different patterns according to the weather and surrounding environment. Those patterns often bore many similarities to the Basic Talismans studied by wizards. The mystery behind this had yet to be fully unraveled.
At dawn, the Green Ants abandoned the anthills they had painstakingly built through the night and returned underground. The following evening, these large ants would choose another open, level patch of grass and continue their long-running moon-gazing project.
This lawn by Linzhong Lake was one of