Map Wraparound of Invented Planet

A Largely Tropical planet with a strong covering of thick Rainforest Foliage over the majority of it. Near the northern and southern edges of the main landmasses are more arid areas. Overall, the climate of this planet is hot and wet with long, mild seasons lasting up to several years on earth. The main landmasses are broken up into two major continents that are close by each other with a few islands off of the coast. It is not volcanically active currently. 

The dominant species in this region are a widespread species of large bugs. They are a generally intelligent species shown to be able to solve puzzles, produce simple tools, and form organized societies. They use the thick foliage and large leaves of the jungle trees as shelter, often cutting into them and re-assembling them into structures for living space. They drop their dead in piles away from the main group and while they don't seem to communicate verbally, they have a variety of scents and pheromones that are able to communicate a wide range of signals and emotions.

Greater Ikhsc live in the densely populated rainforest areas tend to grow much larger than Lesser Ikhsc (3-5 feet from head to rear). These variants often have much more saturated shades of color. These rarely have to go far and so they do not develop wings like the lesser variety of their species.

Lesser Ikhsc are identifiable by their wings, smaller stature (1.5 - 3 feet), and generally warm, dusty color palettes that match up more with the drier, less abundant areas they grow up in. Any Ikhsc has the potential to be greater or lesser when they are born, it all depends on the environment they are raised in. These are a migratory species, always on the lookout for more food to sustain them, it's not as easy to find outside of the rainforest.

In the Panorama, we can see a trail of Greater's carrying large chunks of jungle leaf back home to their nest where they will rearrange it to suit their needs. While it is sometimes used as shelter, it could also be used to cultivate a variety of other plants and mushrooms that they feed on - a kind of farming technique. During the long winter, they go into an extended hibernation until the warm weather brings them back.

The Oxygen-Rich air allows the bugs to grow to massive size, they are omnivorous and reproduce extremely quickly. These things plus their general intelligence has allowed them to stomp out several competitors though their population is kept somewhat under control by the large birds of prey that will try and pick weaker ones off when their trails lead above the trees.

1st Draft Planet Ideas

Initial Planet Ideas -

Rainforest?
Populated mainly by bugs - big ones with their own kind of civilization. Maybe build structures and grow food off of harvested foliage like leafcutter ants, probably don't talk but communicate with smells. High Carbon Dioxide levels fuel a planet filled with heavy vegetation and the bugs are living. Maybe not super advanced but sheer numbers overwhelm other species and make them, for the most part, the dominant species on the planet. Maybe they still get prayed on but developing tools and structures have separated them out from the other animals.

Why have these insects thrive over other animals?
- Out-breeding others? Excess of plant life keeping their population fed for a long time, they've begun to farm and expand on resources as their population skyrocketed
- Very, very warm atmosphere, lots of Oxygen with the excess of plant life
- Short lifespans, very fast turnover of life let them adapt very fast
- Maybe they took their initial advantage against little mammals and bird type species and ran with it so they never got the chance to evolve as much as they did here
- They could be growing too fast, maybe out-eating all their resources - vast farms, pests that eat them
- More complex society developed amongst them

Seasons are about the tilt of a planet - high tilt is extreme seasons, no tilt is none
What made the planet tilt? What knocked into it and how hard?
Stabilizing - or de-stabilizing the planet with moons and things

- No seasons? - Insects dominate without seasons, they don't die in the winter and it's always hot - steady stream of reproduction, not waves or seasons - may push overpopulation issue - is there something on the other side of the planet thriving? Maybe something slams into the planet and forces seasons onto it, no one is happy, everyone is scrambling to adapt - it could be a recent event threatening their population and their planet that historically didn't have much change

- Heavy seasons? Insects forced to make large migrations across the planet every time seasons shift OR they die out every season, laying their eggs and letting them hatch in spring - less dominant presence probably