It changes its cloak based on the location where it last battled.
It will be the Plant Cloak if it last battled outside or in tall grass.
It will be the Sandy Cloak if it last battled in a cave, on a beach, or faced a Pokémon from a Honey tree.
It will be the Trash Cloak if it last battled in a building.
There are some grassy areas in which Burmy will not change to a Plant Cloak. In Pokémon X and Y, Burmy will not change to Plant Cloak after battling in the grassy areas of Route 8 between Connecting Cave and Ambrette Town. Instead, it chooses a Sandy Cloak - presumably due to the proximity to the beach on Route 8 connecting Ambrette Town to Cyllage City.
In the wild it is always the Plant Cloak variation. The cloak only affects its form upon evolution into Wormadam; there is otherwise no effect on gameplay.
Burmy is a small, larval Pokémon with a black segmented body and a coiled antenna on top of its head. It has a beak-like mouth and yellow eyes. Burmy has six stubby legs: the first two pairs are black, while the back pair is yellow. A coat of leaves, sand and gravel, or pink building insulation normally covers Burmy’s body. It will not hesitate to collect nearby materials to construct a new cloak if the old one breaks or falls off. Even if it is born where there are no cocooning materials, it somehow always ends up with a cloak. The cloak protects it from the cold, and will become thinner when the weather is hot.
Burmy also starred in Some Enchanted Sweetening!, the episode Cheryl made her debut. She caught a wild Burmy that was lured to the Honey she put on a tree. After battles with Team Rocket, the Burmy evolved into a Mothim.
Burmy will not appear in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time until a rescue mission involving it has been completed, using the following Wonder Mail code:
XR2Y #==@ JYX%
3@2F Q8FQ R@M#
Objective: Prospect with Burmy on floor 13 of Marine Resort.
Burmy's coat does not change if leveled up with an Exp. Share, making this a viable option for keeping a wanted cloak to evolution.
Burmy's evolutionary family is one of the most complex, with two factors deciding its evolutionary event: its gender and its appearance.
It is unknown how Burmy changes cloaks, since it is not shown in the anime. It is seen putting back on a cloak that fell off, however.
Burmy is the only Pokémon with a base stat total of 224.
Although Burmy have been confirmed to have feet, they do not have a footprint, likely due to their feet being concealed by their cloak.
Although seen in the anime and Pokémon Adventures, Burmy does not have a cloakless form in the games, and as such, a Burmy hatched from an egg will be born wearing a cloak.
To date, Burmy has never been seen in the anime wearing either the Sandy or Trash Cloak.
Prior to Generation VI, Burmy's body style was .
Origin
Burmy is based on a bagworm pupa, which will metamorphose into a moth if male, or remain a pupa-like creature if female.
Name origin
Burmy may be a combination and corruption of brr, burr, bag and worm.
Minomutchi may be based on 蓑虫 minomushi (bagworm).
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
For other sprites and images, please see Burmy images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
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