BirthME, Doulas

Xenomorphs during their first phase possess blade tips that resembles a scorpion barb. The film has a passing reference to the alien species as xenomorphs. As the Runner shown in Alien 3 only killled its victims, instead of gathering hosts like other human-spawned Xenomorphs would. However, it soon undergoes a dramatic growth spurt, reaching adult size in a matter of hours; in Alien the chestburster had grown to be over 7 feet (2.2m) in height by the time the Nostromo crew located it again. When attached to its ovipositor, the queen is supported by a "biomechanical throne" that consists of a lattice of struts resembling massive insect legs. Dr. Church's hypothesis believed that the Xenomorphs possess the ability to see through minds. Soldiers serve as the primary assault caste of the Xenomorphs and the protectors of the hive. The Queen variant possesses emphatic capabilities used to commands Xenomorph Soldiers and Drones. The Xenomorphs are depicted as eusocial life-forms with a defined caste system which is ruled by a queen, similar to those of bees and ants. Fox were initially wary of allowing Giger onto the project, saying that his works would be too disturbing for audiences, but eventually relented. The word derives from the Greek xenos, meaning “stranger” or “foreigner,” and morph(ḗ), meaning “form.” A xenomorph, then, can be taken as an “alien … Other theories suggest that rather than being multiple, individual creatures, the xenomorph actually acts as one being. The facehugger then "impregnates" the host with an embryo known as a chestburster, which, after a gestation period of several hours, erupts violently from the host's chest resulting in the death of the host, which in many ways is considered their signature aspect. The Xenomorph XX121 (also known as, simply, the Alien) is a predatory extraterrestrial race of endoparasitoids descended from biological weapons created by the "Engineers." Shortly after the chestburster erupts from the body of its host, it will flee due to its vulnerable state and attempts to find a secure location in which to molt into its adult form. It has eight long finger-like legs which allow it to crawl rapidly, and a long tail adapted for making great leaps. The Xenomorph Queen (in every Xenomorph hive) is the largest and most intelligent. There is no evidence that the aliens should be or have been named "Xenomorphs" as a proper noun rather than simply a description. They also have a few set of dorsal tubes located on their backs, though it is still unknown what purpose the tubes serve.
Giger also gave the alien's mouth a second inner set of jaws located at the tip of a long, tongue-like proboscis which could extend rapidly for use as a weapon. Highly aggressive and asocial, they are lead by a single Queen that lays eggs while the rest of the hive protects the Queen and gathers new hosts. The eggs laid by the queen are large, ellipsoidal leathery objects between two to three feet high with a four-lobed(in some cases three-lobed) opening at the top. Director: Ken Turner | Stars: Lance Henriksen , … Xenomorph Runners (also called Runners) are alternate breeds of Xenomorphs that birthed from quadrupedal hosts. Attempts to remove facehuggers generally prove fatal, as the parasite will respond by tightening its grip, and the facehugger's acidic blood prevents it from being safely cut away. Deciding that the creature would be scarier the closer it appeared to a human, Scott decided that a single, very tall, very thin man be used. They make few vocalizations beyond snarls and high pitched shrieks when in pain or attacking. After only a few hours, the alien will chew its way out of its host's chest, painfully killing the host. Soldiers have ridged heads, as opposed to the smooth carapace of the Drone, but are otherwise virtually identical. Inside the mound is an extensive system of tunnels that consists of numerous gallery chambers.

The Queen also seems to have increased intelligence compared to the other life-cycle stages, as the Queen on LV-426 was able to learn to operate an elevator. At first, the chestburster it is less than 1 foot (30 cm) tall.

Queens possess an immense ovipositor on their lower torso, similar to a queen termite's, which is responsible for creating eggs. Several conglomerate companies and military organizations continued to store captive Xenomorphs, conducting research on the Xenomorphs to be developed as biological weapons.
If "xenomorph" was truly the name of the alien species, the franchise would use it more consistently. A facehugger has been observed shedding its cells and replacing them with polarized silicon in order to better survive in adverse environmental conditions. "I was running through titles, and they all stank", O'Bannon said in an interview, "when suddenly, that word alien just came out of the typewriter at me. The creature has no specific name, and has been referred to most often onscreen, and in the credits of each film, simply as the alien. The queen acts as the brain, communicating telepathically how her limbs should act. The Queen's head is larger than other adult Xenomorphs and is protected by a large ridged crest. Both realized the idea had never been done before, and it subsequently became the core of the film. After comparing the description between the Acheron Xenomorphs and the fossils, he had discovered that they were essentially the same creature. Xenomorphs are shown to have fish-eye lens to display their point of view. Human spawned Xenomorphs were usually portrayed as having humanoid hind limbs, while other non-Human spawned Xenomorphs, such as Runners have sported double-jointed legs due to its quadrupedal host.