This post is part of a three-part series covering Kalos' invertebrate Pokémon, spawned from the hype of the Pokémon Legends ZA announcement. This is the final part, focusing on the Vivillon line.
Part Two (Barbaracle) - https://invertposting.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-is-barbaracle-based-on.html
Scatterbug and Spewpa both take inspiration from clothes moths; Tinea pellionella and Tineola bisselliella. The larvae of these moths are common household pests because they eat animal fibers like silk, wool, and leather. They eat these materials because they contain keratin, a material that most other animals can't eat. Clothes moth larvae have developed a symbiotic relationship with special gut bacteria that break keratin down, allowing the bugs to extract nutrients. Debris from foraging may be turned into cocoons, or may aid in the production of silk which can be spun into webs. Those cocoons, made by Tinea pellionella are the inspiration for Spewpa’s design.
Rather than having external silk, these Pokémon have “fur”, which apparently aids in regulating body temperature. I am not aware of any real-life counterparts, since wild moth larvae tend to be active during warmer time periods. Larvae that overwinter seem to rely on changes in body fluids and metabolism; not fur. The fur would likely just act as basic insulation, so it’s by no means unrealistic, there may be larvae that do exactly that which I'm just unaware of These furs also act as a defensive structure, potentially pulling from the uricating hairs of some caterpillars, which cause skin irritation.
Scatterbug and Spewpa are able to convert food into a black, toxic powder which they spew. These are common traits across Lepidopterans in general, for example adult Tiger Moths excrete a foul substance from the back of their necks when attacked by birds, while the larvae of Zygaena moths may sequence toxins from plants which they turn into toxic defensive droplets. The fact that these Pokémon use powder rather than a liquid excretion is likely a reference to “moth dust”, which are just scales on the wings of moths. "Moth dust" may also be the inspiration for Vivillon's signature move - Powder. Powder covers the target in powder; it they attempt to use a Fire-type move, they take damage equal to 25% of their HP and that attack fails.
When Spewpa evolves into Vivillon things get interesting. First, it should be noted that these moth larvae turn into a butterfly, which I do find amusing, but we’ve had more drastic evolutions in the past (Carnvahna to Sharpedo, Shroodle to Grafaiai). Vivillon specifically takes inspiration from Papilio dardanus, the mocker swallowtail, hailed as "the most interesting butterfly in the world".
The females exhibit increddibly prominent and varied polymorphism. Polymorphism is when a single species exhibits several different patterns (called forms or morphs) in the same habitat. Polymorphism has also been recorded in other species of Papilio, but I’ve singled out P. dardanus because of the “most interesting butterfly” claim and because of their location – Sub-Saharan Africa, an area with many ties to France. This butterfly exhibits at least 14 unique morphs which variously mimic other, toxic butterflies, male P. dardanus, and a variety of other things. These morphs provide distinct advantages - one study using individuals from Tanzania suggested that morphs that mimic other, toxic butterflies are generally protected by predators but may face harassment from males attempting to mate, while females that mimicked males faced the opposite issue.
This level of mimic intricacy is not apparent in Vivillon, but that may just be because of the limitation in games, it’d be phenomenal to see this implemented in some official capacity but this is unlikely. Vivillon’s patters act as both camouflage and population identification, and correlate to the real-life region where this Pokémon was caught.
I’m gonna go over each of the morphs, their potential inspirations/logic, and any interesting real-life correlations. Sad to say though, there are very few - most of these patterns just invoke a general vibe, but don't appear to have any strong connections or correlations to real world things, although there may be associations I just haven't made.
- The Icy Snow, Polar, and Tundra patterns all are native to snowy areas like Russia, Canada, Argentina, Iceland, and Hokkaido. There are adult moths which are active during winter, such as the winter moth (Operophtera brumata). These moths shiver to warm up before flying, and use heat emitted by flight in order to stay warm. These polar Vivillon would likely do the same.
- The Ocean pattern can only be caught in Hawaii and Réunion and mimics a sunset over the water, while also looking similar to Epiphile orea. E. orea is a Central/South American species
- The Marine pattern can be found in parts of Chile and Spain, and all of Portugal, and Italy. It's a general blue color, but the black edges of the wings make it visually similar to the Blue Morpho butterfly, Morpho menelaus. The Marine pattern could also pull from California's coastal blue butterflies, many of which are endangered insular forms. One of which, the Xerces blue, is North America's only extinct butterfly.
- The Sandstorm pattern is native to the Middle East and Turkey and simply visually resembles a sandstorm. Deserts are, rather surprisingly, hotspots for butterfly diversity, especially in North America. Deserts also see great seasonal migrations of butterflies across entire continents.
- The Savannah pattern is native to a large part of South America and people online have pointed out color similarity to the Brazilian flag, although I think that's a shaky association at best
- The Modern pattern is native to the Eastern US; Bulbapedia connects it to the De Stijl art movement
- The Elegant pattern is native to a majority of Japan; its purple color may be a reference to purple dye’s links to royalty.
- The Fancy pattern started off as an event-exclusive, distributed online to celebrate the GTS's 100 millionth trade. Then, in Scarlet and Violet, all wild Vivillon in Paldea are this form, although this can be changed via connection to Pokémon Go via Pokémon Home. This has led some suggest that this form is native to Paldea, and the Meadow form is native to Kalos. The availability of this form does have potential for expansions of greater lore, but that could be wishful thinking.
As for the rest -
- The Sun pattern is native to southern Mexico, parts of Central America, and the Northern Territory of Australia; shockingly it looks like the sun.
- The Poké Ball pattern is at the moment an event exclusive, first distributed in Paris.
- The Garden pattern is native to the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand and similarly has a general garden color scheme. Interestingly, it is distinct from the Meadow pattern, called the Flower Garden patter in Japanese.
- The River pattern is native to Australia, the Canary Islands, several African countries. It simply looks like a riverbank.
- The Monsoon pattern is native to India, and Southeast Asia - areas consistently hit by seasonal monsoons. It looks like rain clouds.
- The Jungle pattern is native to most of Equatorial South America and parts of India and has a general rainforest color scheme.
- The Archipelago pattern is native to islands such as Puerto Rico, and continental areas like the Yucatán, and the tip of South Africa. The High Plains pattern is native to Western North America. The Continental patter is native to China, some of Northwestern Europe, parts of Argentina, and South Korea. The patterns of these three morphs use colors generally associated with those regions.
Image from –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinea_pellionella#/media/File:Tinea_pellionella01.jpg
