Formic
From Orson Scott Card Wiki
Also known as Buggers, this race of Raman is made up of a Hive Queen and her subjects. They share a mind, so the loss of individual units does not concern them. They killed several humans in the belief they were simply stopping communications, which led to the Formic-Human war consisting of the First, Second, and Third Invasions.
They also hacked the Mind Game in Battle School, which led Ender Wiggin to discover their queen on a former moon they inhabited. He was then able to to keep her with him on his voyages. She was able to reproduce on the pequenino homeworld, Lusitania.
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[edit] Biology
The Formics were insectoid, and were similar to ants and bees in societal structure. The Hive Queens, who were the central minds that controlled the entire nest telepathically, were about three meters. The workers were barely one meter in length.
The Hive Queen has a highly adaptive immune system, which worked effectively enough to keep them from medical research.
[edit] Hive Queen
Main Article: Hive Queen
The Hive Queen was the central mind behind the nest, and all Hive Queens instinctively communicated among the rest of the Hive Queens. The Hive Queen was the only one capable of laying eggs, after biting the head off a drone and fertilizing her eggs.
When a Hive Queen egg is laid, a worker has to be fed to the fertilized egg. The Hive Queen is given a philote only after its birth, and the mind of the entire population of Buggers is absorbed by the newborn queen.
[edit] Worker
A Worker is usually one meter in length, and are directly controlled by the Hive Queens. The worker does the construction, repair, and other efforts necessitated by keeping the nest healthy.
[edit] Drone
A Drone is the male of the nest, which must sacrifice its head to the mouth of the Hive Queen to mate.
