Nature abhors a vacuum, but nature bloody loves a crab.
You see, there's this thing called "convergent evolution", in which two entirely separate species end up evolving into very, very similar-looking (but unrelated!) forms. The most famous and eminently meme-able example of this phenomenon is carcinisation — multiple crustacean species evolving into crab, or crab-adjacent, forms. It is the evolutionary singularity. Nature loves a crab.
This becomes relevant to Nintendo games thanks to newly-announced Scarlet & Violet Pokémon Wiglett, who resembles nothing more than a long, pale Diglett. We all assumed that Wiglett was therefore a Paldean regional form, because... well... that's been Game Freak's whole schtick for some time now, hasn't it? But no. Wiglett, according to Pokémon Scientists, is an entirely separate creature. So, wait, why does he look like Diglett, then? Have the Pokémon designers really run out of shapes already?
Convergent evolution is here to explain everything, friends. Reddit poster u/sdrey has made a small but helpful explainer of how convergent evolution works in the Pokéworld:
And here's what the official Pokémon website has to say:
"It’s said that Wiglett’s resemblance to Diglett might be a mere coincidence—a result of its adaptation to its environment. It may look like Diglett, but it’s actually a completely different species of Pokémon. Wiglett pokes a part of its body out of the sand to feed in the ocean. It’s still unclear what the rest of its body hidden in the sand is like or how long it might be."
Horrifying.
Honestly, it's surprising this hasn't come up before. There are, after all, loads of similar-looking Pokémon that are apparently unrelated. Dragonite and Charizard; Audino and Indeedee; even the Paldean crab Klawf and the OG crabs Krabby and Kingler... or the dozens of Pokémon that look like off-brand Pikachus!
Now, can someone explain why a totally-unrelated-to-Diglett Pokémon was given a name almost identical to Diglett? Were the scientists feeling cheeky that day? Grrrr. I'm off to become crab.
Comments 34
I personally believe they're closely related to Wiggler from Super Mario, the name is just so familiar. That can't be a coincidence too, right?
Every single new Pokemon announced for this gen so far has been 10/10 design
@Type_Trubbish Except the legendaries and their tyres
@Type_Trubbish
couldnt agree more. love what im seeing and cant wait for release
Game Freak: “What if we made Diglett, but L O N G?”
I really missed your articles, Kate
I know that GameFreak says “it’s based on this real world phenomenon, separate from regional forms”, but it honestly feels like an excuse to pad out the Pokédex with clones. Now that these designs can be considered their own Pokémon, I’m worried that they will be leaned into more heavily to save resources whilst maintaining the ability to say “100+ new Pokémon!” in the marketing.
I can't believe they named it Wiglett 🤣
Just way too on the nose..
@Kiz3000 I actually really like the legendaries… but yeah, the tire thing is just kinda weird.
I believe this is the first confirmed instance of convergent evolution in the Pokemon world (aside from fan theories or Pokedex nods such as Sharpedo with Garchomp or Toxicroak with Seismitoad) and I honestly love that for their take on such a nuanced part of ecological life....they choose goddamn Diglett to represent it.
And you know what? It worked flawlessly.
intereting that Pokémon Company/Game Freak is introducing the concept of convergent evolution on gen 9
E x p a n d D i g l e t t
All the pkmn fanboys always said that desing in other monster taming games sucks and then game freaks make something stupid like this and they said is fine lol
Even humans end up getting progressively more crabby as time goes by. It’s a process known as ‘cantankerisation’.
This is by far the best and most interesting article I've read in a while.
Wowwwww just continue to spoil using one article after the other Nintendo life. 🙃🙄
Smart concept. That said, I bet there's some fans (Skrelptics?) who will deny all this science and insist it's something else.
On a serious note, I like this in-game theory on convengent evolution. One of my biggest qualms with Gens 3 & 5 were they were a little too reliant on expies. At least with this and regional forms, it kind of gives it some reasoning. This probably means Cubone and Kangaskhan are convengent to one another (although my headcanon is always that the link between the two is Kangaskhan will adopt young orphan Cubone due to its maternal instinct until its ready to go out on its own)
Neat, but calling this "convergent evolution" is a bit of a misnomer by Pokemon standards because of the Pokemon concept of evolution. Evolution in Pokemon refers to a form change of an instance of a Pokemon when they reach a certain milestone, not the IRL definition of a change in biological traits after adapting to an environment. This would breed a lot of confusion in the community, leading people to think that Wiglett will evolve into Dugtrio instead of a new Pokemon that's similar to Dugtrio (Wugtrio?). I think we need to come up with a new name for this in Pokemon.
"Ok, ok, ok... I've got an idea for a new pokemon! Check it out!"
"Isn't that just Diglett?"
"No, no... it's not. It's completely different and it's long and white."
"So, you did the 'Sonic long-legs' thing to a diglett? You know, I can use photoshop, too, that doesn't mean that I should!"
Nintendo: "IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!" "Now, explain the nonsense behind why it looks like Diglett, but isn't Diglett."
DERP
I feel like Wiglett is just the other end of diglett.
So, if I evolve a Diglett in the new region, it'll evolve into the adapted Wigtrio?
This is pretty interesting, and it's fun that Pokemon is highlighting convergent evolution in such a detailed way finally.
@Type_Trubbish Completely agree! I haven't been so excited for a new Pokemon game in a long time!
Wiglett is literally classified as the Garden Eel Pokémon. Unless you can somehow connect a mole with an eel, you've got nothing.
Great post
crabs and the beach life
Well I certainly hope it becomes a crab or something ingenious. Not like if it was really going to become something weirder like a living geyser or anything.
I've loved every new Pokèmon revealed so far except for this one. This is just another variation of an already boring Pokèmon.
@Alexneon desing? game freaks? I think you mean design and Gamefreak lol.
@Type_Trubbish I agree but this one here looks silly. It's just another variation of Diglett with a silly looking Clown nose.
I'll be honest, I've liked the new Pokémon they've shown so far, however, as far as I'm concerned, this one was disappointing.
Tho looks like a garden eel to me. They do tend to live in groups in the sand so I could see it closely resembling dugtrio. I think a good example of this convergent mumbo jumbo would be remoraid and octillery, that one always threw me thru a loop.
Pokemon evolution = real world metamorphosis. As this shows evidence of real world evolution, we shall call this process Pokemon metamorphosis because that totally makes sense.
...I still say that it's basically just a Khezu whelp from Monster Hunter.
OMG. I am a huge Pokemon fan but can we just forget Diglet and Dugtrio ever existed? They literally look like poos come to life. 😂
There's probably a Giant Enemy Crab underground.
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