Scarpanid family

The scarpanid family consists of flying insects that often hold, and sometimes also throw, objects and other creatures.

Abductionbug
The Abductionbug is a kind of scarpanid which lives primarily near water, where it hydrates. It looks like an aqua blue Bumbling Snitchbug with a yellow-tan abdomen, but its abdomen is a bit larger and rounder, and on the bottom of its abdomen are the markings which are similar to those on the abdomen of a Swooping Snitchbug, except its markings are much larger and target-like.

Bloom Bomber
The Bloom Bomber is a species of airborne scarpanid that drops objects that burst into spores.

Bumbling Snitchbug


The Bumbling Snitchbug is a creature discovered by Captain Olimar during his second visit to PNF-404. It's a green bug-like creature with black arms attached to its head. It will steal leaders, and eventually hurl them into the ground, causing damage. Otherwise, it will wander around while flying with its wing-like antennae. Captured leaders may struggle to free themselves by rotating the analogue stick or have a second leader throw Pikmin to combat the enemy. Weighing the bug down will cause it to crash into the ground, where it is easily overwhelmed.

Coppeller


The Coppeller is a creature introduced in. They are small, airborne, quadrupedal insectoids that, like the scarpanids from the previous games, can carry Pikmin as well as other objects. They will swoop onto the screen in groups, carrying Sparklium Seeds, Pikmin, and treasures, at which point the player will be able to take them out by throwing a single Pikmin at them. If allowed to escape, whatever they are carrying will be permanently lost. A more dangerous spiny version of this creature can be found in later levels.

Darkfreeze Snitchbug
The Darkfreeze Snitchbug is a Snitchbug that has been infused with Darkfreeze energy. It is purple with neon blue lines racing across its jagged, snakelike body. It snatches Pikmin, freezing them in its claws and then throwing them at Leaders and Pikmin. Anything hit by this attack is only knocked back, but only Cyan Pikmin are immune to being frozen and used as projectiles.

Fearless Snitchbug
It is a colossal Snitchbug with a defined brownish body like the Swooping Snitchbug, but is much larger with bigger antennae.

Fireball Snitchbug


Fireball Snitchbugs are nasty enemies that resemble black Swooping Snitchbugs with red hands and yellow eyes. When they see Pikmin or leaders, they will throw balls of fire at them, burning anything they hit except for Red Pikmin.

Flittering Glowbelly
A generally non-hostile creature, it flies in the air at heights only accessible by Yellow Pikmin and Winged Pikmin while shining light downwards from its glowing abdomen. Though this provides precious illumination in dark caverns, it also acts as a searchlight that warns the Flittering Glowbelly of incoming predators. Shortly after a Pikmin or leader steps into the light, the Flittering Glowbelly shrieks in fear and flies away, alerting other nearby enemies into the immediate area.

Gardening Snitchbug
The Gardening Snitchbug is an airborne scarpanid that is beneficial to Pikmin but passive to leaders. It idly flies around its territory, occasionally stopping to rub its hands together. When Pikmin come near, however, it swoops down towards them to grab up to two of them, returning to the air afterward regardless of whether it caught any Pikmin or not. If it caught any, it flies around for a bit with its prey in claws before stopping to throw the captured Pikmin to the ground, burying them and advancing their maturity to the flower stage if it was not that stage already. The Gardening Snitchbug then keeps near these Pikmin sprouts, frequently tending to them to ensure they do not wilt and return to the leaf stage.

Ghastly Snitchbug
Ghastly Snitchbugs look like white Swooping Snitchbugs with a curled tail and have antennae resembling that of the Bumbling Snitchbug's. It doesn't plant Pikmin, but instead plucks them and throws them into nearby hazards or to nearby enemies.

Graverobber Snitchbug


The Graverobber Snitchbug is a ghost-like Snitchbug encountered very rarely, and it is a ghastly foe indeed. It is bone white, with a see through body and black eyes. It doesn't pick up your Pikmin, instead, it picks up enemy corpses! After grabbing a corpse, it will struggle a bit to lift off (this is your chance to attack) before flying high once more. Then it will do one of two things. It will either throw the corpse at your Pikmin, knocking them around, or revive the dead enemy, which can be a pain if the enemy was tough to kill. It flies too high for any Pikmin to reach, there for you must wait for it to fly down and struggle with the corpse, then throw Pikmin on it.

Hijacker Snitchbug


The Hijacker Snitchbug is very similar to the Bumbling Snitchbug in that it only targets leaders, unlike Swooping Snitchbugs which kidnap both Pikmin and leaders alike. This creature will swoop down to abduct the nearest leader and will return them to the location of the landing site or Research Pod before violently throwing them to the ground, often dragging them far away from their Pikmin.

Landmine Snitchbug
The Landmine Snitchbug is an advanced scarpanid that resembles the Bumbling Snitchbug. Bright orange in color with green hands and eyes, it drops inactive bomb-rocks onto the ground in various directions. The bombs won't trigger until either they are attacked or the creature itself is. It has much more health than other snitchbugs but it can still be attacked and killed as easily.

Muggonfly


The Muggonfly is a colossal dragonfly-like scarpanid introduced in. It resembles a large Coppeller with a long tail that it uses to carry food back to its den. It can neither hurt nor be hurt by the player, but its food pouches can be destroyed and raided. It is very rare, appearing only once in the entire game, and is the only member of its family that is unable to harm Captain Olimar and/or Pikmin.

Musical Glowbelly


The Musical Glowbelly is one of the notable members of the family that is flightless. It has the notable ability to make sound in a unique way. However, to get away from Pikmin it runs very fast, about the speed of a bud White Pikmin. This means it is hard to catch, however it may randomly stumble and flop by accident, making it possible to hit its weak point, its belly.

Psychic Snitchbug


Psychic Snitchbugs are strange, translucent, green scarpanids that have pink eyes and the power of telekinesis. They behave similarly to Swooping Snitchbugs, but they pull Pikmin to themselves using telekinesis, using the power to grab many of them at a time. Once the Psychic Snitchbug releases its held Pikmin it will force them all to the ground simultaneously, burying them.

Satchel Snitchbug


Its behavior is unknown, but it most likely would have stolen Sparklium seeds by eating them. Presumably, the Sparklium seeds it would have eaten would have been visible in its stomach and been recovered by killing the creature.

Scallawsp
The Scallawsp is a recently-discovered species of Scarpanid. These do not have wings and instead dig underground with only their sensitive antennae visible, emerging when prey comes near. It has a mouth for cutting Pikmin up and two extra pairs of legs for walking with. When it emerges from the ground, it will run to your Pikmin and grab two of them, either eating them or throwing them into the ground. It is also capable of short hops.

Searchlight Snitchbug


Searchlight Snitchbugs live only in dark places where their light can shine. Their light is caused by a type of bacteria that fused with it during its evolution. They are colored cyan and have orange eyes. They may either hover in place or follow an established patrol route. Once something walks into the cone of light projected by its body and onto the ground below it, the Searchlight Snitchbug will stop moving and begin repeatedly emit a loud buzzing noise that alerts nearby enemies and attracts them to the location of the Searchlight Snitchbug. The creature will only continue its normal behavior if the cause of the commotion leaves its circle of light.

Silent Glowbelly
The Silent Glowbelly is a young Flittering Glowbelly that hasn't yet grown enough to have developed its voice. Anything that walks into the circle of light projected by the creature will be watched by it with a childlike curiosity. There is usually no reason to attack it, and if it is killed, its light goes out. It can wake up enemies that are sleeping near it if its light shines on them.

Snitchbug Queen
The Snitchbug Queen is the boss of Petrified Arbor. It looks like a giant dark purple Swooping Snitchbug with an extra pair of arms and huge wings. It attacks by swooping down and grabbing up to six Pikmin, and if you don't pin it to the ground in time, it will throw them off the tree! It takes a lot of Pikmin to ground it as well, and it can also summon Swooping Snitchbugs, Bumbling Snitchbugs and Fireball Snitchbugs to assist it in battle.

Spiny Coppeller


The Spiny Coppeller is a specially adapted relative of the Coppeller introduced in. They are slightly larger than normal Coppellers, and are completely unkillable, as any Pikmin thrown at them will be impaled on their spiky armor. They do not carry anything and rarely move, instead simply hovering in place and blocking the player. They are one of the only enemies in any Pikmin game that can not be killed.

Swooping Snitchbug


The Swooping Snitchbug is a creature present in all three Pikmin games. They are legless, round, flying insects that have evolved wing-like antennae as a means of locomotion. They attack by swooping down and grabbing prey – just Pikmin in, but leaders as well in. After carrying the prey for a few seconds, they violently throw it toward the ground, which forces any Pikmin to be replanted and revert to its leaf stage. Snitchbugs can be weighed down by throwing many Pikmin (or at least one Purple Pikmin or Rock Pikmin) onto their body, causing them to crash to the ground and making them susceptible to attack.