Vampa Beetle

Vampa Beetles, also known as Goliamites or Large Mites, are a species of oversized parasitic insects found on Planet Vampa. They stand taller than the average Earthling and possess a syringe-like tongue used to drain nutrients from their hosts, primarily the much larger Vampa Beasts.

Their diet is hemativorous, meaning they feed on the fluids of other living creatures. They surround their targets in groups to increase their odds of successful feeding, a pack-hunting strategy necessitated by the fact that individual beetles are no match for a Vampa Beast.

Deceptively Powerful

Despite their status as prey for Vampa Beasts, these creatures are far from weak. Paragus noted that a power level of 920 would not be enough to defeat one, and at his own power level of 4,200, he was too intimidated to fight a beetle himself. He instead called upon the young Broly, whose Great Ape power level could reach 100,000, to handle the threat.

Vampa Beetles played a crucial role in Broly's survival during his exile. He subsisted on their flesh and eggs for his entire life on Vampa, making them his sole food source for decades. The beetles proved to be highly nutritious and water-rich, sustaining Broly without any access to pure drinking water until Cheelai shared hers with him.

The taste, however, left much to be desired. When Cheelai and Lemo sampled the beetles' flesh, they found it sour and foul. Broly's acceptance of this diet speaks to his resilience and the harsh reality of life on Vampa, where options were limited to beetle meat or starvation.

Their eggs are also edible and presumably share the same nutritional density as the adults, providing Broly with a renewable food source in an environment where almost nothing else could sustain Saiyan biology.

In Vampa's brutal ecosystem, the beetles occupy the middle tier. They are parasites to the Vampa Beasts, feeding on the larger creatures' nutrients while also serving as their prey. This dual relationship creates a volatile food chain where both species simultaneously depend on and threaten each other.

Their greater mobility compared to the lumbering Vampa Beasts makes them the more immediate danger to non-native visitors. Paragus and Beets discovered this firsthand when beetles surrounded them and began draining the beast they were standing on. The beetles showed no hesitation in turning their syringe-like tongues on the Saiyan visitors as well.

As the second most dangerous native lifeform on Vampa, the beetles helped establish the planet's reputation as one of the most hostile environments in the Dragon Ball universe, a place where even the food fights back.