Bumbatee

Bumbatee (Bombuechus)

The bumbatee (Bombuechus) was a remarkable creature. Very little has been recorded on this magnificent specimen and the fossilized findings, however Zoöptic Labs is lucky to have acquired a collection of texts on various animals and insects that once existed on this fine planet.

The bumbatee ranged in size from five to eight feet long and weighed up to 1,000 lbs. As you can imagine, this creature would have bumbled heavily through the skies in search of enormous flowers, upon whose it would feed.

Millions of years after the last bumbatee buzzed, a man named Charles Darwin would write about its distant ancestor, calling it the “humble-bee,” and noting in his book “the web of complex relations between bees and fertilization of plants.” Starting around 160 million years ago, bumbatees were probably the key pollinators of the ancient world’s flowering plants.

Much debate has ensued regarding the laws of aerodynamics and whether or not the bumbatee would be capable of flight. The wing load to body mass ratio is rather mind boggling. But since we found this illustration in an old, official-looking book, we at Zoöptic Labs will take it as a fact and leave the debate for those who like to argue.

Detail of bumbatee