Spitfire Beetle

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The Spitfire Beetle is a large fictional predatory beetle (how large is unknown but they seem to be around as big as the spitfire birds they hunt) created for the film The Future is Wild. The spitfire beetle inhabits the rainforests of Antarctica 100 million years from now. The ancestors of the spitfire beetle are unknown, but they possibly colonized Antarctica millions of years ago. Their evolution coincides with the Spitfire Tree and the spitfire bird. The spitfire bird defends itself from predatory insects like the falconfly by spraying hot chemicals, which are collected from the flowers of the spitfire tree. The spitfire beetle found a way around this. Their wings and wingcases are patterned like the flower of the spitfire tree. But one beetle can not work by itself. So four beetles cooperate to catch a spitfire bird. When four beetles arrange their wings and wingcases at the right angle, they imitate the spitfire flower. The spitfire bird visits flowers when it needs the chemicals used for defense. So when approached by the spitfire bird, the spitfire beetles all fall upon their victim and eat it. When the spitfire tree stops flowering, the spitfire beetles lay their eggs and die. As the larvae develop over the winter, they emerge during the spring to feed on more spitfire birds.