Creatures Caves

So, upon looking again at the balloon bug, I realised that it has never been given the ability to die of old age.

If you look at the sprite for it, it has the ability to turn up its toes (literally) - sprites 36-38 are an upside-down, facing left, decaying balloon bug, and similarly, sprites 39-41 are an upside-down, facing right, decaying balloon bug.

The thing, though, would be to make sure it dies in the proper way - sprites 0-3 are the balloon bug walking facing left, and so it should use sprites 36-38 if it dies while in sprites 0-3, and sprites 4-7 are the balloon bug walking facing right, and so it should use sprites 39-41.

Sprites 8-21 are again the balloon bug flying facing left, and should use death sprites 36-38, and sprites 22-35 are the balloon bug flying facing right, and should use the death sprites 39-41.

The worked examples of changing pose all assume that death is in a linear progression... whereas this is not the case with the balloon bug.

How do I make it take the proper pose when it dies?