Habitat selection for trap building in antlion larvae: Influence of patch area and travelling distance

Abstract The process of habitat selection is particularly relevant to sit‐and‐wait predators that build traps to capture prey, given their restricted mobility and high costs of relocation. However, this process relies on behavioural decisions that can be constrained by several factors, potentially leading individuals to choose suboptimal habitats. We test whether habitat selection for trap building was determined by patch area or by the travelling distance required to access them in the antlion larva Myrmeleon immaculatus , which builds conical pit‐traps in sandy soils to capture walking arthropods, mainly ants. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a field experiment in a tropical semi‐deciduous forest on the Yucatán Peninsula, México. We built experimental landscapes that offered larvae four suitable alternatives to pit building (small patches, both nearby and distant and large patches, both nearby and distant), connected to one another within an unsuitable matrix and monitored larval displacement and pit building. Our findings revealed that: (a) larvae showed a high capacity to move around and explore their surroundings, but only through sand corridors; and (b) patch area appears to be an important extrinsic factor in determining habitat selection, whereas travelling distance appears to have an indistinguishable effect. Larvae employed different decision rules for habitat selection. Some individuals remained in the first large patch they found, suggesting the use of a threshold rule, whereas others sampled several patches before selecting one for pit‐building, suggesting the use of a scoring rule. Our findings suggest that sit‐and‐wait predators that build traps exhibit high behavioural plasticity, use corridors to explore available patches and that the availability of a suitable area is key to deciding where they build a trap. This reinforces the idea that habitat loss and the presence of corridors connecting fragments are among the most relevant factors affecting habitat selection.