Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson, creator of The Moomintroll series of children's books, included an "Ant-lion" in her book Finn Family Moomintroll. In the story the Moomintroll character conspires to capture the Ant-lion out of revenge for its having pulled Moomintroll's mother down into its pit. After its capture, the Ant-lion undergoes an elaborate and fantastic transformation, finally emerging as "the world's smallest hedgehog." Although marketed as children's literature, Jansson's stories contain sophisticated, secondary meanings that adults will appreciate.

Moomintroll confronting the Ant-lion © 1948 Tove Jansson.