Queen
From Xenopedia
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The Queen is a huge xenomorph that serves as the mother and leader of a xenomorph hive. Her appearance differs from that of a drone, with a pair of extra arms, and a huge crest on her head. She can engage in combat, but usually remains stationary, letting the Praetorians (or drones, if none have developed yet), do her dirty work while she directs the hive and lays eggs. A queen is much more intelligent than a normal xenomorph, displaying traits of anger and vengeance beyond any purely instinctual behavior. An example of this was when a queen saw her nest destroyed by Ellen Ripley, and then began a murderous rampage in an attempt to kill both her and Newt, even going so far as to hide herself in the landing gear of their dropship and follow them back to the USS Sulaco.
[edit] Development
A Royal facehugger is the preferred method of developing a queen. It is a facehugger with a darker colortion who can implant a normal embryo and a Royal embryo into a host.
A variant of this appeared in the Aliens vs. Predator comic and appeared to be slightly darker in coloration than a typical facehugger, and had what appeared to be bristles or spines on its back. It apparently only contained a Royal embryo.
A queen can be evolved from a praetorian if no Royal Facehugger is present. A praetorian facehugger will develop into a adult praetorian. The Praetorian can then evolve into the queen. Other than that it can evolve into the Ravager or a Carrier.
It is possible for a typical drone facehugger to develop into a queen in the absence of either Royal or Praetorian facehuggers. In a deleted scene from Alien, the drone appeared to have been turning some of its prey into eggs, perhaps showing the early stages of such a transformation, or perhaps to create a Royal facehugger that would be able to create a queen. In AVP: Requiem, the PredAlien, born from a normal Facehugger, grows into a young queen, capable of impregnating hosts (preferably pregnant women) directly rather than just laying eggs. It is possible that this was simply to establish a colony, and that once enough drones had been created, the PredAlien would have settled down and become a full queen.
