Bumblebeetle

The bumblebeetle is a large beetle with a peculiar lifecycle that inhabits the southeastern Rainshadow Desert of Novopangea, 200 million AD, in the documentary The Future is Wild.

Low over the scrub of the Rainshadow Desert, the bulbous shape of this insect can be seen on flashing winds, roughly the size of a sparrow. No sooner does one appear than it vanishes again. Its swift passage can leave a flicker of disturbance in the sparse desert grass, and a thrumming sound hanging in the air.

The teardrop shape of its body causes little air resistance as it skims along, dipping over sand dunes and weaving in and out of the hardy vegetation, constantly navigating its way clear of obstacles. Its membranous hind wings drive it onward, while the hard forewings, called elytra, are spread out to form an aerodynamic surface. These natural airfoils provide lift, allowing the insect to cut off its power and glide from time to time. By conserving energy in this way, it can cover great distances without tiring - even though this is the only flight it will take in its life.

The stiff elytra are more than airfoils. They also act as supports for sophisticated sensory apparatus. The beetle's forelegs, coated with scent receptors, are held along the leading edge of the forewings. Additional sensors dangle from the tail. Indeed, every available surface of the bumblebeetle is covered in sensing setae, including its antennae. This array is necessary (though the setae on the legs are usually folded down in flight to reduce drag), as the food sources the insect is hunting are spread out across the desert.

About 40 percent of the bumblebeetle's streamlined, yet bulbous body consists of fat - a store of energy built up during its larval stage. This will fuel up to a day of continuous flying, in which time the bumblebeetle can cover some 500 miles (800 kilometers), nonstop. At some point in the journey it is likely to sense food and close in on it.

The food the insect seeks is a dead ocean flish. Large numbers of ocean flish are carried over the mountains from the Global Ocean with every hypercane. By the time their carcasses tumble into the dust of the Rainshadow Desert, they have been battered and desiccated by the ferocious winds. Here and there across the arid landscape lie 'flishwrecks' - whole flocks dropped in a small area.

A flishwreck is a valuable source of nourishment to all kinds of desert-dwelling animals. The bumblebeetle, however, has evolved to rely exclusively on this food supply. Its sensory array can detect a mass of rotting flish miles away, and each individual bumblebeetle will fight its own kind to take possession of a carcass. Only one bumblebeetle can secure each flish.

The scent of decaying ocean flish spreads downward, often close to the ground, and any insect (bumblebeetles and other species) lucky enough to detect it begins to home in. Before long, the air is full of the buzz of bumblebeetles, each seeking an unclaimed carcass. If two bumblebeetles approach an unclaimed flish, a fierce aerial skirmish breaks out. These fights are rarely fatal but the loser must relinquish the prize and find a carcass of its own. Failure to find a flish in time means death not only for the bumblebeetle, but also for the load it is carrying.

When a bumblebeetle claims a flish, its quest is over and so is its life. The hard-earned food is only for its offspring. Indeed, it could not enjoy a flish supper if it wanted to: the adult has no mouthparts and only the most rudimentary digestive system. Its body consists of wing muscles, a fat supply - and its young. As the insect alights upon the dead flish, its abdomen collapses and it dies. In doing so, it releases the larvae into their new home.