Pokemon: Cool Animals That Have Yet To Become Pokemon [and my ideas on how to implement them]

"A garbage bag? A bunch of wires? Food Pokemon? God, they're running out of ideas!"
is a huge complaint from a lot of Pokemon fans.

The thing is, making monsters to populate a fictional world isn't just about taking a cool real-world animal or mythological creature and just shoehorning it into a game. As a D&D player, when a campaign or a sourcebook just starts to throw every single type of creature from, say, a Greek mythology at you, it ends up feeling boring and predictable. Variation is key, and that's why each generation tended to have a balance between various types of Pokemon ranging from "just an animal, maybe with an element" to more creative redesigns to giant dragons to humanoid monsters to Pokemon based on inanimate objects. It's to make the world feel far more variable, because that's how you get people to be interested enough to catch 'em all.

But hey, while it's so, so easy to dip into the pool of possible inanimate objects and mythological beasts for Pokemon to dip its toes into -- there's far more that hasn't been made into a Pokemon than those that has -- what about the animals? Pokemon keeps making a butterfly every other generation, and a bird, that's proof that they're running out of animals, right? Not quite, as the most recent generations show... they have a huge assortment of weird and wacky animals (and plants, and fungi) to pick from. Just look at the currently-newest Generation VI, and look at some of the Pokemon introduced there, like Golisopod, Crabrawler, Buzzswole, Pheromosa, Oranguru, Toxapex, Oricorio, Wishiwashi and Vikavolt. Agree or disagree about just how these Pokemon individually, each of them show off a type of Pokemon and a style that hasn't been seen in the past six generations of the franchise, showing that, yeah, there are still a lot of animals out there that can very easily be turned into Pokemon. The animal kingdom's pretty majestic, so... yeah!

So... yeah. This is just a bit of a ramble on a bunch of animals that I think would be cool to turn into Pokemon. It's going to focus on the animal kingdom because, as mentioned, it's probably the one with the most examples of already existing Pokemon representatives. Also going to limit the amount of extinct animals, because trust me -- we'll be here all week if you got me talking about dinosaurs.

This list is going to lean slightly more towards marine life and invertebrates... and that's not going to be my fault, because a lot of the 'obvious' land animals have already been turned into Pokemon in some shape or form, and proportionally, real life has most of its biodiversity among invertebrates and marine life anyway.

I'm going to start off with a couple of obvious ones first, that I'm sure will be made into Pokemon, it's just that Gamefreak/Nintendo is intentionally spreading these out. I mean, we didn't get a proper lion pokemon until Generation VI, for crying out loud! This is probably going to be 'part 1' of a series, maybe? If this gets good feedback, I'll do one for prehistoric animals.

Dolphin:

Yeah, these aquatic mammals are probably the biggest popular animal to not have a Pokemon representative in any shape or form. The most obvious among all the animals in this list, dolphins have been popular in media as these smart, graceful sea mammals. I can totally see Nintendo making a simple pure-Water or some sort of Water/Psychic variation, and dolphins would probably prove popular enough to get turned into the Water starter. Or if Nintendo wanted to buck traditional portrayals of dolphins (they did something similar with Pangoro, after all), and make them a bit more cruel. Maybe take the best of both worlds and have them be bad guys that also hunt down other bad guys, Punisher style? I dunno. Whatever the case, though, whatever dolphin or porpoise Pokemon they make down the line, it's definitely going to be popular.

Peacock:

Easily one of the most striking birds in nature, the peacock and its amazing plumage has been a popular staple in fiction, and I'm genuinely surprised that we never had a peacock Pokemon yet. Hell, a peacock looks majestic enough that it could probably be a legendary Pokemon of some sort and no one would really complain. Maybe those eye-spot-esque markings could be real eyes, and this hypothetical peacock is a part-psychic monster? I dunno. Certainly interesting to realize, though.

Housefly:

Easily the biggest "wait, we don't have one of these?" among the most common insects and arthropods is the humble housefly, or indeed anything from the order Diptera. I like butterflies as much as the next entomology geek, but honestly, don't we have enough butterflies and moths out there? There are so many more interesting insects out there, and none more iconic than the housefly. As one of the most important animals ecologically in being one of the major factors of decomposition, while simultaneously being the vector for many, many diseases out there... Honestly, there's a lot of things that you can do with a maggot/fly evolution line. You can focus on its decomposing ability, its plague-spreading ability, its ability to dodge attacks... or maybe go full Kafka and make a Fly-humanoid? I dunno.

Flamingo:

I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best at avian taxonomy, but out of the more popular and distinct-looking birds out there, the flamingo is perhaps the only one that doesn't have any sort of Pokemon equivalent in any way. You could argue that Dodrio's partly based on ostriches (though I'd love to see a proper ostrich down the line), but I'm genuinely surprised we never had one of these. I guess other than their appearance flamingoes just doesn't have much to go on? Maybe they could be the boring regional bird, in the same way that toucans, pheasants and woodpeckers are adapted into regional birds.

Platypus:

Otherwise known as nature's attempt at creating its own Pokemon. You could argue that Psyduck or Lotad are based on the platypus... but this duck-billed, beaver-tailed otter definitely deserves to become a Pokemon of its own. If Nintendo wanted to get really geeky, they could actually incorporate the playpus's real gender dimorphism, because only males have venomous spurs. I'm not sure if you can really make an evolutionary line, so maybe this hypothetical platypus Pokemon can just be a standalone like fellow Australian-based Pokemon Komala and Kangaskhan?

Grasshopper:

Grasshoppers aren't a super-interesting insect, and I can't really blame Nintendo for not doing a grasshopper Pokemon yet, preferring to go for cooler beetles, mantises and centipedes or cuter butterflies and bagworms. But grasshoppers are one of the most common insects in the world, and other than the housefly, it's easily one that I want Pokemon to do. If not the grasshopper, then the locust, a subtype of grasshoppers well-known for their ability to swarm and become a calamity. Maybe something akin to Wishiwashi's ability, where it's a single locust that transforms into a giant, monstrous legion-swarm when it has a lot of health?

Cheetah:

There's a lot of overlap for the 'big cats', which is why people argued back and forth on whether Entei should be considered a lion, and if we needed a 'proper' tiger when we already have Incineroar... but I don't think we ever had a proper cheetah, a very speedy monster. I dunno, though. Maybe it's a Pokemon that's far more geared towards its ability than anything else? Also, insert your own favourite cat breed/dog breed here -- since we have many obvious cat and dog Pokemon, I really don't think that I have to list any of them here, and considering both tend to be very marketable, I'm pretty sure that whatever breed of cat or dog that hasn't been represented would probably get a look-in eventually.

Cuttlefish:

One of the three main subtypes of cephalopods, we've had octopuses (Octillery) and squids (Malamar) represented in Pokemon. Hell, we've even got an ammonite! But we don't have a cuttlefish, and I kinda understand why -- to the uninitiated, squids and cuttlefish probably look similar. But considering just how creative they ended up turning Malamar into, I'm genuinely sure that they can pull out something to make a potential cuttlefish Pokemon interesting. Maybe focus on the cuttlefish's ability to camouflage? Or to hypnotize its prey?

Vampire Squid & Dumbo Octopus

However, if we do go back to squids, I would definitely love a Pokemon version of Vampire Squid. The Vampire Squid is a bizarre, weird-looking creature from some of the deepest level of the sea, and is distinguished by the webbing that connects its eight cephalopod arms, allowing it to catch prey like a net, while simultaneously giving it the appearance of a cloak. Throw in some extra spines and two propulsive fins, and the ability to create flashing displays of light that would disorient anyone in the deep... yeah, there's a lot of creative shit that Pokemon could make out of the vampire squid. Water/Ghost, maybe? Or is that too similar to Jellicent?

It could even evolve from another adorable deep-sea creature, the dumbo octopus (sometimes erroneously called dumbo squid), who's a cute, happy little trooper that looks, well, pretty dang whimsical. There's a lot of really weird deep-sea creatures and cephalopod species out there, and my god, the original draft of this had like ten more octopi and squid before I trimmed it down.

Sawfish & Swordfish:

Runner-up for nature's attempt at making a real Pokemon is the sawfishes (often called 'sawsharks' despite them actually being rays), a fish with a straight-up sawblade on its face. Frankly, I'm genuinely surprised at Nintendo's restraint at adapting sharks and rays into Pokemon, with, at the time of writing, only Mantine, Sharpedo and the Garchomp line really borrowing from sharks and rays. Definitely want a sawfish somewhere down the line. Hell, its typing would be obvious too -- Water/Steel, with an actual chainsaw instead of a bony saw. An alternative would be the far more popular (but less cool) swordfishes and marlins, who also have a lance-like protrusion from their upper lips... clearly nowhere as cool as a goddamn chainsaw.

Stingray & Torpedo Rays:

Speaking of rays, we don't have a poisonous stingray and I really feel that it's a crime. We at least have Mantine to represent the big manta rays, bu I really kind of want something to represent the poisonous rays out there. Speaking of which, Torpedo Rays, otherwise known as Electric Rays -- the ocean's version of electric eels! I'm not seeing these two animals happen anytime soon, though, with too much overlap with Mantine and Stunfisk respectively. Would definitely be happy to see more rays, though. I like rays!

Moose, Wildebeest, Gazelle & Llama:

I think mammals are easily the most boring when they get turned into Pokemon, although that might be due to personal preference. But out of most of the bigger mammals, I don't think we ever had any of these? I can't blame Nintendo for not doing them, though -- they're kinda boring, and sort of redundant. I'm not sure... If I had to make Pokemon out of these animals, maybe the moose could be an ice-themed monster? And the gazelle, llama and wildebeest could probably get an element or something, becoming the trope equivalent of Zebstrika or Gogoat in a future region? Eh. I don't personally find any of these ungulates particularly interesting, honestly, and am just including them here for completion's sake.

Lionfish:

There are a lot of marine creatures that I want, but considering how hard it is to make 'just a fish' interesting in a world of onion frogs and fire birds, it's no surprise that Nintendo tried to not over-saturate the Pokedex with tropical fishes. I mean, we only get a trigger-fish very recently. The lionfish (sometimes called scorpionfishes, which is a type of fish closely-related to the lionfish) are majestic little fishies with a distinctive face, but it's a pretty aggressive predator, and its long, long fins all show off that it's actually a very venomous creature. Again, though, maybe they're just saving this for the simple fact that Pokemon has a lot of Water/Poison types out there -- not Nintendo's fault but more of mother nature having so many poisonous sea creatures.

Stonefish:

Speaking of poisonous, visually-distinctive marine creatures, the stonefish here camouflages itself as a stone and just derps around coral reefs... but it is the most venomous fishes in the ocean, and many unfortunate swimmers and divers make the mistake of accidentally touching or stepping on stonefishes. The worse part? They can survive out of the water for 24 hours when the tide goes down, so sometimes people step on this stony fucker while they're just walking on the beach. As mentioned before, though, Water/Poison types is kinda boring in the Pokemon world, so maybe borrow a page out of Stunfisk and make this a Ground/Poison or a Rock/Poison that lives on land or in beaches?

Hummingbird & Hummingbird Moth:

I'm not sure why I like hummingbirds so much. Is it just because they hover in place beating their wings so fast they act like helicopters? Is it because of their insanely bizarre metabolism that causes hummingbirds to alternate between buzzing around like a hyperactive bee high on sugar, or to enter a near-hibernative state? I dunno. It's increasingly hard to find anything new to do with small birds, especially when they end up as 'mere' regional early-route birds, but maybe the hummingbird gets an additional element? I dunno, maybe it generates electricity by moving those wings quickly? Or maybe do something simple and slap the Fairy type on this one. It's still the newest type, after all.

As a bonus, I'm including the Hummingbird hawk-moth here, a moth that has adapted to mimic a hummingbird's shape. Maybe another Bug/Fairy is in order? Man, this is when I really wished Pokemon allowed more than two typings.

Goblin Shark:

Speaking of wacky sharks, look at this dude! Goblin sharks often make top of the lists of weirdest sea animals, and who can blame them? What the hell is this thing, even? This 3-meter-large shark has even got its own extendable Xenomorph-style mouth that helps it vacuum up smaller prey, and has that blade-like 'nose' on its face! It's even got the honour of being a 'living fossil' in the same style that coelacanths are known to do. It's apparently called the 'tengu' shark in Japan, which probably means that we're going to get some fun Japanese mythology inserted to whatever potential goblin shark pokemon we get. For bonus points, maybe adapt fellow 'creepy mouthed' shark, the cookie-cutter shark?

Whale Shark, Basking Shark & Wobbegong:

Yeahhh, I really like sharks. There's just something whimsical about the basking shark, with its huge, huge mouth, but the fact that it eats nothing but plankton. Again, there's way too many interesting sharks out there (cookiecutter sharks! Angel sharks! A proper Hammerhead!) that I don't think many of them are ever going to make it into Pokemon, but out of them all, I think the basking shark might be my favourite due to how utterly ridiculous this thing looks. More likely than the Basking Shark, of course, is the far more popular Whale Shark, otherwise known as the largest fish currently alive and living in the ocean. Maybe the basking shark Pokemon evolves into the whale shark?

I'm also including one of my favourite sharks, the Wobbegong, which is like the shark family's lazy cousin that just spends his time growing that hilarious beard-like set of protrusions, and instead of being fierce alpha predators or gentle giants of the deep, wobbegongs just stay around corla reefs pretending to be coral and acting as an ambush predator.

Other honourable mentions for sharks: Cookie-cutter sharks, Thresher sharks, a proper underwater Hammerhead, the Australian Ghost Shark and the Angel Shark.

Leech:

Yeah, we've got Eelektross, but that's more lamprey than leech, and more predatory than blood-sucking. Leeches could easily be inhabitants of a swamp area and be another member of the Water/Bug gang. Maybe in a nod to how past doctors used them for healing purposes, leeches could be a particularly creepy variant of 'medic' Pokemon?

Mantis Shrimp:

No, Clawitzer is a pistol shrimp. They're completely different! Pistol shrimps shoot out jets of water, while mantis shrimps have high-speed, high-power 'clubs', strong enough to break a human thumb and to break aquarium walls. They also possess some of nature's best eyes, as exemplified in the Terraformars manga. Mantis shrimps can easily be adapted as the physical-based counterpart or alternate evolution to Clawitzer, honestly, and I wouldn't even be mad.

Hagfish:

These marine fishes are a pretty unique fucker -- they have a skull, but no vertebral column, and are the only jawless fishes left in the present day alongside lampreys. And in addition to giving taxonomists a gigantic headache on where to classify it, hagfishes can shoot out slime to clog up a predatory fish's gills, leaving its predator to die a slow, suffocating death while the hagfish wiggles free by tying itself into a knot. No, really. It's a bizarre enough animal, and it's just such a shame 'eels' sort of blur together in people's minds that they'll just brush it off as 'another Eelektross'. I want my hagfishes, my moray eels, my garden eels and my pipefishes, dammit.

Glaucus

We do have a nudibranch Pokemon with Shellos, Gastrodon and Manaphy (although the latter may not strictly count, since sea angels are a different clade of molluscs?) but the Glaucus genus here has been one of the more popular sea slugs, due to their clearly unusual body shape that look like something out of a video game or a fantasy setting. How do you even describe this? It's just such a weird looking animal! One point that goes against the Glaucus being a Pokemon, though, is that it's going to be yet another Water/Poison, since the real-life Glaucus is poisonous... but maybe they could get creative and adapt the fact that real-life Glaucus prey on venomous cnidarians like the Portuguese Man O' Wars and then steal the venomous cells of their prey to use it themselves. Some sort of Water-type Pokemon that preys on Poison-types and keeps chunks of its prey as weapons? Could be an interesting ability.

Frogfish:

Yeah, lots of marine life here. Sorry, not sorry. We do have an anglerfish Pokemon in Chinchou and Lanturn (and while I'm glad that those two really end up delivering a different take on anglerfishes, I wouldn't be opposed to a traditional fanged-mouthed one down the road), but the frogfish is different enough compared to most anglerfishes that I think it'd be a neat basis for another Pokemon, living in far shallower waters than their bio-luminescent cousins, and are covered in spines and real algae to aid in camouflage. Water/Grass, maybe? Frogfishes also use their fins to quite literally 'walk' on the seabed, moving slowly and unlike most other fishes that their prey never realizes that the chunk of algae is actually a predator. Oh, and they have the normal lure associated with anglerfishes, too. There's a lot they could make out of the frogfish, although I'm sure Nintendo will manage something creative.

Goose, Stork & Crane:

Geese aren't technically the same sort of species or genus as ducks or swans, both of whom are represented in Pokemon. I guess their similarity visually ends up being kind of hard to tell apart when they're so stylized? I'm also surprised that storks, cranes and other water-wading birds haven't been made into Pokemon yet, although I suppose Water/Flying isn't that appealing of a type combination? Maybe they can go all kung fu and adapt the crane style of martial arts, making another Fighting/Flying Pokemon? Eh. Again, birds really don't deliver much interesting things to work with. 

Capybara, Opossum & Jerboa:

There are only so many rodents out there, and each region tended to pick one as their early-route equivalent to Rattata. The Capybara isn't especially interesting beyond its size (and things like Raticate and Bibarel are already pretty huge) but I can definitely see him be an inspiration for a future regional rodent, or at least the final evolution of one. Opossums would definitely also work as an early-route regional rodent, maybe a Dark-type one? Speaking of rodents, I'm legitimately surprised we don't have a jerboa yet. One of the most common inspiration for 'fakemons' out there, Jerboas are these whimsical-looking kangaroo-rats, and definitely would serve well as a rodent or a Pikachu-clone mascot. 

Termite:

I mean, it took us until Generation V to get an ant Pokemon.  These destructive, wood-destroying bastards are actually more closely related to cockroaches than ants, despite many cultures calling them 'white ants' due to their similar size and their queen-based heirarchy. Since we were denied a proper queen ant with Durant, maybe we can get a proper set of forest-destroying (or rock-destroying, or metal-destroying, depending on the theme) termite Pokemon with a queen? 

Earthworm:

Unless I'm missing something, I don't think we ever had a proper earthworm Pokemon, despite earthworms being one of the more widespread invertebrates in the world, and one of the most relevant decomposers out there. I get that being just a worm isn't anywhere interesting enough, but maybe you could pull a page out of Dune and just make a huge giant desert-burrowing earthworm? Or is that too obvious? 

Parasitic Worms:

There are a lot of parasitic worms in humans and animals, but the one that isn't "just a worm" is probably the tapeworms of the Cestoda family, well known for having mulitple mouths and a long, fettuccine-like segmented body. I would've said that tapeworms and parasites would maybe be too gross for Pokemon to deal with, but then I remember Parasect exists. Maybe we could do some sort of PG-rated parasitism that way? I dunno.

Narwhal:

It's a whale with a goddamn unicorn horn! Yeah, this is definitely a fun little animal that I'm sure could be turned into a pretty badass Pokemon. I guess it could be related in some way to the hypothetical dolphin Pokemon we talked about before? 

Brittle Star:

More Echinoderms, and while we've got two spectacular starfish Pokemon in Starmie and Toxapex, both highlighting different aspects of the echinoderm phylum, the brittle star could definitely end up being another potential echinoderm Pokemon some time in the future. I guess it's a wee bit too similar to an octopus, maybe? Eh. 

Sea Urchin:

It's a ball of spikes! Another member of the Echinoderm family and far more popular and well-known than the brittle star, the sea urchin is probably an obvious Water/Poison should it ever be adapted into a Pokemon, and the large amount of Water/Poison already out there (don't blame Nintendo, blame mother nature) probably makes this rank pretty low. We also recently got Mareanie, which has shades of sea urchin in it, despite  being more explicitly based on a crown-of-thorns starfish. Maybe we can get a weirder set of pre-evolutions by adapting a sea urchin larva? That probably would end up a bit too didactic, though. 

Blobfish:

Blobfishes don't actually look like this, and the memetic 'haha it looks like a sad old man' is the result of a body that's evolved to survive the crushing pressures of the deep sea being brought to atmospheric surface. Still, it's one of the more 'memetic' animals that enjoy a fair bit of popularity, and I can totally see Pokemon capitalizing on this.

Tardigrade:

Another obscure animal whose popularity skyrocketed somewhat recently, these 'water bears' are water-dwelling micro-organisms that are most well known for their near-indestructibility, able to survive extreme temperatures, extreme pressures, and even in vacuum, being able to simply endure and 'hibernate'. Again, it's a Pokemon that could easily be super-defensive, and maybe you could slap the Ghost-type on this one to represent its near-invulnerability? Maybe it's a Shedinja-style ability, except it has, oh, say, ten hit points and it reduces all damage it takes to 1? I dunno. I'm not good at balancing games, but you get the idea.

Leucochloridium paradoxum

Otherwise known as 'that flatworm that turns snails into zombies', and one of the more popular obscure parasites out there. And, yeah, I wouldn't even consider including this if a Pokemon based on Cordyceps hasn't been included in the original 151. The Leucochloridium is a type of parasitic worm that parasitizes birds and snails, where its eggs are found in bird droppings, causing snails to eat them. When the larvae hatch, they go into the snail's eyestalk and turns it into a bulging, pulsating, colourful protrusion resembling caterpillars that birds prey on. The picture from Wikipedia shows exactly how a snail's eyestalk should appear versus one that's infected by the worm. The worm is also able to force the snail to climb up leaves and have their worm-infested eyestalks consumed by birds. It's a bit complex and nigh-impossible to incorporate the entire life cycle in Pokemon, but maybe you just incorporate the imagery of a snail with bulging, hypnotic eyes? Do we have a Bug/Psychic Pokemon yet? This could be a hypnotist snail or something.

Aye Aye:

Not a big monkey fan, although Generation VII's orangutan and lemur at least used different sorts of primates. The aye-aye, with its whimsical, long skeletal fingers and blood-red eyes, is definitely a great candidate for an inspiration of a primate Pokemon. The real aye-aye uses its freakishly long fingers to tap on trees to find grubs, and then dig it out with its teeth and finger. Could easily be a Dark-type that revolves around stealing, maybe?

Komodo Dragon:

One of the biggest reptiles still alive nowadays, the Komodo Dragon is the apex predator in the islands it lives in, and, y'know, between its name, its size and its poisonous spit, the komodo dragon is a pretty obvious basis for a Poison/Dragon Pokemon, yeah? The only real poisonous lizard we have that I can think of are Salandit and Salazzle, and those play around burning acid and female dimorphism. Definitely wouldn't mind something based on this creature for sure.

Sea Pig

We have a sea cucumber Pokemon in Pyukumuku, but the sea cucumber known as sea pig is such a whimsically bizarre motherfucker that I really, really want one of these as a Pokemon. Maybe even a Pyukumuku evolution? I dunno. There's only so much you can do with a sea cucumber -- they're not super interesting, but hey.

Assassin Bug

I've saved a lot of bugs for the end, because there's sometimes just going to be "cool bug, but probably not cool enough to be adapted into a Pokemon without some creative twists". And since I know I ramble on enough about Bug-types in my Gotta Review Em All series,

One of the more badass and savage insects out there, the assassin bug's is a predatory insect with a huge stabby proboscis, but more interestingly is the fact that some species actually disguise themselves by putting debris from dead prey in order to camouflage themselves. A bit too morbid, perhaps? But maybe we do a PG-rated version of this (like Karrablast/Shelmet) and say that it picks up discarded Bug-type Pokemon carapace to toughen itself up?

Solifugid & Vinegaroon;

Solifugids (a.k.a. Camel Spiders) and Vinegaroons (a.k.a. Whip Scorpions) are two of the creepier arachnids out there, and I'm grouping them together. There are a lot of possible spider and scorpion variants that Pokemon can work through before they get really obscure, but assuming that Pokemon's done with the couple that they have, these two can definitely fit the bill. The Vineragoon is probably my favourite, with its distinctive body plan that's such a weird mixture of spider and scorpion, and with the ability to shoot acid out of its tail. Kinda mundane in the world of Pokemon, perhaps, but maybe it's a Bug/Poison with a unique ability or something? I dunno. The Solifugid's utterly creepy giant palps actually doesn't have poison -- it hunts by catching prey with its sticky palps.

Earwig

Earwigs are probably one of those insects that look distinct enough with their butt-pincers (and a completely unfounded myth about them nesting inside human ears) to be memorable, but doesn't do enough or be interesting enough to be adapted into a Pokemon. I guess they could do something like Kricketune where they add in another sort of motif into the bug?

Mole Cricket:

Another bug that is distinguished by a bizarre body addition, and for the mole crickets, it's, well, the fact that their front claws have evolved into shovel-like structures for burrowing. We do have one subterranean Bug/Ground Pokemon in Nincada, but Nincada loses his Ground typing when he evolves. So I think the perfect hypothetical Bug/Ground Pokemon that retains its type would be based on the mole cricket. Like normal crickets, mole crickets can also produce a loud song, so maybe we could pull off a Kricketune and have the mole crickets be, I dunno, drummers or something?

Weevil:

Weevils are some of the most common insects worldwide, but I can't believe it took me this long to go "oh right, weevils". They're just not very interesting, I'm afraid, although maybe Nintendo could make a weevil as the early-route bug? They could capitalize on the weevil's penchant of drilling holes with its proboscis to allow it to bypass abilities or resistances or something along those lines.

Honeypot Ant:

There is just something so whimsical about the honeypot ants, which are various species of ants that have specialized worker ants with inflatable abdomens to store honey, acting as a storage chamber of food for their colony. It's just such a hilarious visual, and I could definitely see a Bug-type healer in the same vein of Chansey and Audino. Maybe it's a regional variant for Durant?

Water Scorpion:

We have a serious dearth of Water/Bug Pokemon, and one of the freshwater aquatic insects I definitely would love to see is one based on the predatory water scorpion, an insect that's  a fierce underwater predator that sometimes feed on tadpoles and fishes as well. Not much here beyond "I find this insect cool".

Flea:

Basically, parasites of a different sort to the worms up above. Fleas and ticks (and mites and all sorts of other stuff) are little arthropods that bounce around larger host animals, sucking up blood and well-known among the medical profession for being little shits that spread diseases. We kinda have a tick Pokemon in Joltik, and it's interesting way to combine the tick being an arachnid and a parasite by incorporating it as a spider's pre-evolution. Maybe we could do a similar mechanic? The flea Pokemon can only evolve into a larger Bug-type (say, something based on a grasshopper -- another insect that has tangentially been used as a basis, but we don't outright have one of) when it fights and uses a Leech Life move on a dog or a cat-based Pokemon?

Velvet Worm:

One of the world's more bizarre invertebrates, this 'para-arthropods' is this bizarre slug-worm thing with legs that aren't jointed, and used to be thought as the 'missing link' between insects and slugs. More interestingly, though, a velvet worm's method of predation is to use the two organic glue-guns on its face to glue its prey in place before eating it. Definitely something that a Pokemon designer can work with! 

Bombardier Beetle

This article, by the way, has been severely trimmed down from the list of other insects and marine life that I wanted to be made into Pokemon, and I'm only including some of the most interesting ones. The bombardier beetle is an innocuous-looking beetle until you realize that it can shoot out a hot, noxious spray from its butt. Now Bug-type Pokemon that spray things at the enemy isn't anything particularly new, but this could maybe be a weaker Bug/Fire Pokemon? I'm trying to include insects and arthropods that won't just be Bug/Poison or Bug/Flying, because there's way too many of those already.

Dung Beetle:

Dung beetles are beetles that roll up dung into huge, huge balls and use them as basically a portable nursing house for its grubs that also doubles as a food source. It's interesting, and maybe dung beetles could be similar to Farfetch'd and Timburr in that it's a Pokemon that rolls around carrying a huge weapon? Definitely could be another Bug/Ground, for sure, and maybe to avoid the fecal association, the hypothetical dung beetle Pokemon could roll around dirt instead? Another interesting fact about dung beetles -- some species of these lowly bugs can navigate itself by observing the stars. Also worth noting that dung beetles are a member of the Scarabaeoidea family, and the scarabs often seen in Egyptian glyphs and revered as a symbol of the god Khepri, so, yeah, there's definitely something we could do along these lines.

Brazilian Treehopper:

Most Treehoppers are just weird-looking bugs that I wouldn't say no if Nintendo adapted it into a Pokemon, but the Brazilian Treehopper in particular is just such a weird fellow with a crown of weird circular thorny balls that make it harder for enemies to swallow them. There's just so many ways to incorporate this when you turn it into a Pokemon. A Bug/Steel that uses them as flails? Or are they spiky cannonballs instead?

Anyway, that's all the time we have today. I've gone way, way too long and took out a whole lot of other insects, fishes, spiders and squids that I feel are redundant or not interesting enough. Again, if there's any suggestions or specific ideas, feel free to comment. I may or may not do an extinct animal themed version of this article in the future, and maybe a sequel if I get enough ideas for more weird and wacky animals that could be Pokemon.