Lithopod family

Armored Cannon Beetle Larva

Main article: Armored Cannon Beetle Larva.

File:Armoredcannonbeetlelarva.jpg

Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae are enemies in Pikmin 2. They resemble large grubs with small blue eyes and a mouth bearing resemblance to that of the adult staged Armored Cannon Beetle. It also has a blowhole, but appears to inhale through its mouth, unlike the adult form, whose blowhole is separate. This animal behaves in much the same manner as the Armored Cannon Beetle, but turns and spits at a faster rate and has much less health. They do not have the hard exoskeleton the adults are infamous for, and are thus vulnerable on all parts of their body. Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae are strategic foes; they will position themselves on higher ground (usually on an incline) and launch rocks from there. One can make it so that this enemy's boulders hit other enemies; all that is required is that the other enemy is near (in front of) the larvae. The rocks it shoots out cannot be petrified.

Armored Cannon Beetle

Main article: Armored Cannon Beetle.

File:Armored Cannon Beetle(PikminNPC).jpg

The Armored Cannon Beetle is the mature specimen of an Armored Cannon Beetle Larva. Strangely, it was only seen in Pikmin, whereas the larval forms were exclusive to the sequel. It is a large, black, metallic-looking beetle with a thick, impervious, rounded shell of armor, a blowhole above its head, and a mouth. It attacks by inhaling through its blowhole and subsequently spitting out rolling rocks from its mouth, crushing any Pikmin (or captain) in the way. The only way to defeat it is to clog its blowhole with a Pikmin, which will cause the beetle to expose its steaming red backside, possibly either to breathe or cool off. This is its only weak point. After a few seconds of agony, the Beetle will eject the obstructing Pikmin (which are thankfully unharmed, though they may lose their flower petals), re-cover its backside, and continue its attack. This is one of the few insect-like creatures in the series whose adult and larval stages are both seen. Strangely, Captain Olimar can destroy the boulders by punching them, but the boulders that come out of their offspring can neither be destroyed nor petrified.

Arctic Cannon Larva

Main article: Arctic Cannon Larva.

Arctic Cannon Larvae are a subspecies of lithopod that are only present in snowy areas. Instead of spitting out boulders, it spits out snowballs that trap pikmin and sends them back on a predetermined path. Like the Armored Cannon Beetle Larva's boulders, Winged Pikmin can fly over them. The snowballs don't kill pikmin, but it can knock them into hazards or send them back to the end of the path. The paths are extremely obvious because they stay in only one place. They only time they don't stay put is in Mission Mode's Silver Lake Remix. They appear in the Distant Tundra (story mode) and Silver Lake (mission mode) and their remix stages.

Decorated Cannon Beetle

Main article: Decorated Cannon Beetle.

Decorated Cannon Beetles have an appearance identical to Armored Cannon Beetle Larvae, except they are red instead of green. They, too, spit out stones; but their rocks home in on the captains due to magnetic substance is inside the rock which locks onto the captains' suits. This species is never found partially buried in the ground. Strangely, even when they are found in caves which are made of rusty metal (indicating the presence of iron), the space suits are the only things the rocks home in on. The adult form of this has not appeared in any Pikmin games so far, but they appear to be in the same family as the Armored Cannon Beetle.

Technical information

The following is the technical information regarding the rocks spat by Lithopods, in Pikmin 2.

Pikmin 2 technical information (?)
Internal name			rock
Global properties (List)
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
s000	friction(not used)	Friction	0.5
s001	wallReflection	Unknown (wall bounce speed multiplier?)	0.1
s002	faceDirAdjust	Unknown	0.25
s003	accel	Acceleration	0.5
s004	bounceFactor	Unknown (bounce when it hits the ground?)	0.3
fp00	ライフ	HP	99999
fp01	マップとの当り	Unknown (related to slopes)	25
fp02	ダメージスケールXZ	Horizontal damage scale	0
fp03	ダメージスケールY	Vertical damage scale	0
fp04	ダメージフレーム	Damage scale duration	0
fp05	質量	Unknown (weight?)	0.0001
fp06	速度	Move speed	250
fp08	回転速度率	Rotation acceleration	0.03
fp09	テリトリー	Territory radius	1
fp10	ホーム範囲	"Home" radius	1
fp11	プライベート距離	"Private" radius	75
fp12	視界距離	Sight radius	150
fp13	視界角度	FOV	180
fp14	探索距離	Unknown (exploration radius?)	1000
fp15	探索角度	Unknown (exploration angle?)	0.6
fp16	振り払い率	Successful shake rate	0
fp17	振り払い力	Shake knockback	0
fp18	振り払いダメージ	Shake damage	0
fp19	振り払い範囲	Shake range	0
fp20	攻撃可能範囲	Unknown (shock attack max range?)	0
fp21	攻撃可能角度	Unknown (shock attack max angle?)	0
fp22	攻撃ヒット範囲	Unknown (attack hit range?)	20
fp23	攻撃ヒット角度	Unknown (attack hit angle?)	0
fp24	攻撃力	Attack damage	10
fp25	視界高	Unknown (height visibility?)	100
fp26	探索高	Unknown (exploration height?)	550
fp27	ライフの高さ	HP wheel height	0
fp28	回転最大速度	Rotation speed	3
fp29	警戒時間	Unknown (warning time?)	0
fp30	警戒ライフ	Unknown	0
fp31	ライフ回復率	Regeneration rate	0
fp32	LOD半径	Off-camera radius	50
fp33	マップとのあたりポリゴンの選定	Collision processing radius	40
fp34	ピクミンとのあたり	Pikmin damage radius	25
fp35	石化時間	Petrification duration	1
fp36	ヒップドロップダメージ	Purple Pikmin drop damage	10
fp37	地震気絶確立	Purple Pikmin stun chance	0.05 (5%)
fp38	地震気絶時間	Purple Pikmin stun time	10
ip01	振り払い打撃Ａ	Shake mode 1 – hit count	0
ip02	振り払い張付１	Shake mode 1 – Pikmin requirement	0
ip03	振り払い打撃Ｂ	Shake mode 2 – hit count	0
ip04	振り払い張付２	Shake mode 2 – Pikmin requirement	0
ip05	振り払い打撃Ｃ	Shake mode 3 – hit count	0
ip06	振り払い張付３	Shake mode 3 – Pikmin requirement	0
ip07	振り払い打撃Ｄ	Shake mode 4 – hit count	0
Specific properties
ID	Japanese comment	Property	Value
fp01	サーチゴロゴロ速度	Unknown (movement speed?)	100

Trivia

• The name "Lithopod" is derived from the Greek word "lithos", meaning stone (as they spit out stones), and "arthropod", due to their insect-like appearance.