Myrmecoleon

The Myrmecoleon or Ant-lion[1] is a fantastical animal from classical times, possibly derived from an error in the Septuagint version of the book of Job, reappearing in the Greek Christian Physiologus of the 3rd or 4th century A.D.[2][3][4] It is found in Medieval bestiaries such as the Hortus Sanitatis of Jacob Meydenbach.

[6][7][8][9] Myrmecoleon comes from the Greek words for ant (μύρμηξ [myrmeks]) and lion (λέων [leon]).

Note that the Aberdeen Bestiary describes "There is a stone in the sea which is called in Greek mermecoleon and in Latin concasabea, because it is both hollow and round.

When it rises from its resting-place to the surface of the sea, it opens its mouth and takes in some heavenly dew, and the rays of the sun shine around it; thus there grows within the stone a most precious, shining pearl indeed, conceived from the heavenly dew and given lustre by the rays of the sun.

[11] The ant-lion story may come from a mistranslation of a word in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, from the book of Job.