Sailing angelbeetle also known as sailing angel (Angeloptera nauta) with wingspan up to 6 meters is the biggest flying arthropod in history of Earth. Before flying vertebrates appeared in Carboniferous era, there were also some big insects, like Meganeura, but they all seem very tiny comparing to true giants which evolved billion years in the future, after complete extinction of vertebrates.

So far away in the future atmosphere is denser than today after oceans partially evaporated, but it contains less than half of today amount of oxygen. Future beetle descendants have highly modified one-way tracheal system similar to air-filled cardiovascular system, but open to air outside, powered by air-heart. They also have small lungs and blue blood storing additional oxygen. With so advanced breathing system they can be big and active in low-oxygen atmosphere. In angelbeetles body there is also very many air-filled spaces, so despite they are bigger than adult humans, they are in fact much lighter. Their wing anatomy is incredibly complicated for insect. Wings are separated into many feather-like ailerons, which is distinctive feature of order Scinderoptera. Muscles used to flap and lift wings are still located in angelbeetle metathorax, but there are also many sets of muscles inside wings. Most of them control air-filled balloon-skeleton of wings. Most of wing volume is filled with many extensive air chambers connected to animal respiratory system. Air pressure inside these structures is used to ensure proper wing tension and airfoil (inflatable wings), while modifying pressure in individual chambers alter wing shape and flexibility. For example angelbeetle can fold external ailerons, significantly reducing air drag and dive like falcon or soar without flapping its wings for many hours, steering only by gently altering aileron arrangement. There is no species of today insect able to do this. Their external chitinous skeleton is naturally strengthened by quartz and carbon nanotubes, so it can be thin as a paper and still hard like steel plates. Also their wing membranes contain carbon nanotubes and are durable like kevlar sails. Their wings cannot be so delicate like those of today insects, as angelbeetles need to use them for over dozen years of flying. Wings of course can still work even if some of its air chambers are punctured or even if some ailerons are lost and also membrane have ability to cicatrize wounds. It is very important because angelbeetle which irreversibly lost its ability to fly will certainly die, as it would be unable to hunt anymore and its kin could not feed it forever. Imago angelbeetles land very rarely and spend almost all their life gliding in the air.

Angelbeetles are predators, hunting similar way eagles do. They grab other big arthropods (as billion years in the future there is no non-arthropod megafauna) with their middle and hind legs and then use their front pincer-legs like tin openers to cut its stone-hard external skeleton (if prey is flightless and too big to safely kill it also this way, angelbeetles usually drop it at first from few dozen meters, to quickly kill it). Angelbeetles live in pods of 2 to 10 individuals and are about as intelligent as modern dogs. They hunt cooperatively, like harris hawks, and communicate by deep clanging calls, similar to sound of large bell. They can lift up to 35 kg, so are strong enough to catch and kill also sentient Coleopteran, and are viewed as dangerous predators, like for example wolves or lions were seen billion years earlier by humans. Fortunately they rarely fly next to lands inhabited by civilized species. Generations of hunting taught them that attacking sentient beetles may result in being shot by javelin, arrow or bullet, so they are usually afraid of civilized beetles like wolves are afraid of humans.

Their larvae lives buried deep under hot desert sand, where are relatively safe from predators. In the night, when sand surface temperature is bearable, adult insect return to their larvae and give them their prey killed often over thousand kilometers away. They have excellent memory and phenomenal navigation abilities to be able to find exactly where their baby is buried under almost lifeless sea of hot sand. While sailing angelbeetles breed only on hot deserts, imago can be seen above entire planet surface as well above land as sea.

I always say that new species of insects are hardest speculative creatures to imagine as their evolution is more inventive than human brain can be. So anything what can be excogitated, probably exist or existed somewhere already. But I think, this time I painted quite unusual insect. Seeing it on the sky would be breathtaking. Conjunct insect-bird wings are of course inspired by banshees from Avatar, but well, beetles have quite suitable wing anatomy to start evolving banshee-like wing (look on my dragonbeetle to see how it could started). Drawing these wings was incredibly laborious by the way... So many veins and ailerons... I would never be able to draw it on a paper.

Smaller species of Scinderopteran can be seen here fav.me/d9s73cs and here fav.me/d9vug10

Civilized species of the same era can be seen here fav.me/d8ykcqs



And other species from the same era here fav.me/dbnkx9r here fav.me/dbnkx03 here fav.me/dbnkwh1 and here fav.me/dbnkve1

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