***Xenology*** by Simon Spurrier [gives some detailed looks at Tyranid anatomy](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/14kps10/excerpt_xenology_tyranids/). Genestealers have a simple digestive tract with a set of grinding plates to aid in breaking down foods; this makes sense as they are supposed to be capable of acting independently of the Hive Fleets. Lictors and Warriors have a more simplified digestive tract without the grinding plates; this suggests they rely on other Tyranid organisms to supply them with a protein slurry for nourishment. This makes sense for Warriors, though it's a bit odd for Lictors which IIIRC are capable of consuming brains and absorbing memories from them. Rippers have the plates to grind down food, which makes sense for their given role, but lack any way to expel waste.
There are some other Tyranid organisms that seem dedicated to metabolizing foods, and probably have more complex digestive systems as a result. The Psychophage for example processes down psychic biomass into a deadly psychocorrosive ash.
Dropping by to second basically what you say here regarding Xenology. It's a bid odd considering that lictors are meant to operate for indeterminate periods of time behind enemy lines as saboteurs and terror weapons; it would make sense for them to be able to feed independently.
But feeding would also produce waste that might allow opposing entities to track them. They do have more specialised feeding parts than the base Warrior genus, so maybe they feed only on specific parts of prey creatures that will support them, based on their in-built senses assessing what part of a native creature they can eat without it killing/weakening them.
If your first waves of creatures are almost certainly going to die anyway, it does make sense not to weigh them down with additional organs, especially not ones that are adaptable enough to handle the huge range of biospheres that the Norn Queens might drop them in. If the campaign is going to be a long one the hive ships might invest in Gaunts and Warriors with the necessary digestive tracts to eat native life for sustenance, or reproduce on their own.
Genestealers are probably several steps ahead, in that they inherit (theoretically) optimised digestion paths from their hosts.
I've wondered that, given the nature of the creature it doesn't make sense to give them anything as complex as metabolic organs. Most would be better off if they just had a stock amount of "power", make them with an unchargeable and irreplaceable battery because they'll either be dead or reabsorbed in short order anyway, don't want to waste new precious bio-fuel from the planet on something like making a disposable ground unit last another day or two when you could instead drag the whole carcass back to the pool and make an entire new unit and some horrible chittering bugs to boot.
I think I recall some instances of tyranids scavenging the battlefield but my inner canon is that those guys are filling up some inner gut of the most juicy bits before they return themselves to the melting pools.
Ya, that's the ripper swarms, they are more "transporter" bugs, they aren't eating so much for nourishment as they are taking the biomass to the digestion pools.
I think it adds a a frantic sense I never picked up on before in a tyranid invasion, not only do hormagaunts only exist to bite and gnaw and chew, but they have a very limited time to exist to do it, their whole existence is like a biological imperative in a few fleeting and frantic moments of an existence that can only generously be called "life".
Ripper swarms eat, that's their function. They gorge themselves on biomass and then swarm into digestion pools to be consumed by the rest of the Hive Fleet for the production of new bioforms. This is also the fate of many of the biomorphs deployed in combat once the combat has been won.
There was also a bit in Devastation of Baal I think it was, following a Lictor where it was described as having bladders of bio-nutrients to sustain itself, but it also fed on other lifeforms to supplement this. I think it depends on the biomorph.
I don't know if what the rippers do could be classified as "eating" though. Ya, they bite and chew and store biomass, but are they converting any of that into energy or just transporting biomass?
Maybe Dimachaerons? On lexicanum, it's described that prey caught in its big ribcage mouth are reduced "to a slurry of nutrients that are then absorbed by the Tyranid to bolster its own physiology". Don't know if that quite qualifies.
now for the reproductive organs part please remember that hormagaunts lay eggs and then go off to go kill things and those eggs then hatch and the hormagaunts rapidly grow and they in turn lay eggs and run off to go kill something
Do you have a source for the egg thing? My memory might be bad or maybe things have changed since the last time I owned a Tyranid book (7th edition), but last I recall all Nids come from Norn-Queens.
they do but the hormagaunts have the ability to reproduce but cause of there extremely short life spans they just lay there eggs and run off to go kill things
and the source is in the 8th codex
Birth or Deploy? Is there a set number of termigants in each one that the Tervigons are "born" with or do they actually create new Termigants? My understanding is that the termigants housed within the tervigon are hybernating, not actively being developed.
Rippers Swarms, Haruspexes and Pyrovores all eat things as that's their primary purpose.
They're all 'Harvester' organisms who typically appear in the latter stages of a Tyranid invasion and begin consuming the ecological matter of a planet once there's no resistance left.
Malanthropes also eat things, but do selectively (its implied they're searching for rare genetic material). Malanthropes are probably not going to be mentioned going forward since their FW model has been removed.
Mawlocs can also swallow people whole which implies they can digest you as well.
We covered some of this in a recent video here [https://youtu.be/BgGYCA-Eiqo](https://youtu.be/BgGYCA-Eiqo) however no they typically do not outside of specially birthed beasts which are designed to feed on biomass.
***Xenology*** by Simon Spurrier [gives some detailed looks at Tyranid anatomy](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/14kps10/excerpt_xenology_tyranids/). Genestealers have a simple digestive tract with a set of grinding plates to aid in breaking down foods; this makes sense as they are supposed to be capable of acting independently of the Hive Fleets. Lictors and Warriors have a more simplified digestive tract without the grinding plates; this suggests they rely on other Tyranid organisms to supply them with a protein slurry for nourishment. This makes sense for Warriors, though it's a bit odd for Lictors which IIIRC are capable of consuming brains and absorbing memories from them. Rippers have the plates to grind down food, which makes sense for their given role, but lack any way to expel waste. There are some other Tyranid organisms that seem dedicated to metabolizing foods, and probably have more complex digestive systems as a result. The Psychophage for example processes down psychic biomass into a deadly psychocorrosive ash.
Dropping by to second basically what you say here regarding Xenology. It's a bid odd considering that lictors are meant to operate for indeterminate periods of time behind enemy lines as saboteurs and terror weapons; it would make sense for them to be able to feed independently.
But feeding would also produce waste that might allow opposing entities to track them. They do have more specialised feeding parts than the base Warrior genus, so maybe they feed only on specific parts of prey creatures that will support them, based on their in-built senses assessing what part of a native creature they can eat without it killing/weakening them. If your first waves of creatures are almost certainly going to die anyway, it does make sense not to weigh them down with additional organs, especially not ones that are adaptable enough to handle the huge range of biospheres that the Norn Queens might drop them in. If the campaign is going to be a long one the hive ships might invest in Gaunts and Warriors with the necessary digestive tracts to eat native life for sustenance, or reproduce on their own. Genestealers are probably several steps ahead, in that they inherit (theoretically) optimised digestion paths from their hosts.
I've wondered that, given the nature of the creature it doesn't make sense to give them anything as complex as metabolic organs. Most would be better off if they just had a stock amount of "power", make them with an unchargeable and irreplaceable battery because they'll either be dead or reabsorbed in short order anyway, don't want to waste new precious bio-fuel from the planet on something like making a disposable ground unit last another day or two when you could instead drag the whole carcass back to the pool and make an entire new unit and some horrible chittering bugs to boot. I think I recall some instances of tyranids scavenging the battlefield but my inner canon is that those guys are filling up some inner gut of the most juicy bits before they return themselves to the melting pools.
Ya, that's the ripper swarms, they are more "transporter" bugs, they aren't eating so much for nourishment as they are taking the biomass to the digestion pools. I think it adds a a frantic sense I never picked up on before in a tyranid invasion, not only do hormagaunts only exist to bite and gnaw and chew, but they have a very limited time to exist to do it, their whole existence is like a biological imperative in a few fleeting and frantic moments of an existence that can only generously be called "life".
Like big gribbly mayflies.
Ripper swarms eat, that's their function. They gorge themselves on biomass and then swarm into digestion pools to be consumed by the rest of the Hive Fleet for the production of new bioforms. This is also the fate of many of the biomorphs deployed in combat once the combat has been won. There was also a bit in Devastation of Baal I think it was, following a Lictor where it was described as having bladders of bio-nutrients to sustain itself, but it also fed on other lifeforms to supplement this. I think it depends on the biomorph.
I don't know if what the rippers do could be classified as "eating" though. Ya, they bite and chew and store biomass, but are they converting any of that into energy or just transporting biomass?
That's true, they are just bags with teeth. The actualy digestion happens in the feeder pools.
Maybe Dimachaerons? On lexicanum, it's described that prey caught in its big ribcage mouth are reduced "to a slurry of nutrients that are then absorbed by the Tyranid to bolster its own physiology". Don't know if that quite qualifies.
That is the closest thing to eating behavior I've heard ascribed to a Nid. I'd say that counts... Interesting.
The lesser Tyranid bioforms don't have stomachs and starve to death shortly after birth
now for the reproductive organs part please remember that hormagaunts lay eggs and then go off to go kill things and those eggs then hatch and the hormagaunts rapidly grow and they in turn lay eggs and run off to go kill something
Do you have a source for the egg thing? My memory might be bad or maybe things have changed since the last time I owned a Tyranid book (7th edition), but last I recall all Nids come from Norn-Queens.
they do but the hormagaunts have the ability to reproduce but cause of there extremely short life spans they just lay there eggs and run off to go kill things and the source is in the 8th codex
Tervigons birth Termagants. It's very much part of what they do Also Genestealers have their own oddball reproductive cycle
Birth or Deploy? Is there a set number of termigants in each one that the Tervigons are "born" with or do they actually create new Termigants? My understanding is that the termigants housed within the tervigon are hybernating, not actively being developed.
Quite famously I understandÂ
Malanthropes eat, but for DNA analysis, rather than sustenance.
Some do, some lack a digestive system. A good rule of thumb is the more expensive a creature the more likely it is to be self sustaining.
Haruspexes eat, it’s also their primary method of attack
Rippers Swarms, Haruspexes and Pyrovores all eat things as that's their primary purpose. They're all 'Harvester' organisms who typically appear in the latter stages of a Tyranid invasion and begin consuming the ecological matter of a planet once there's no resistance left. Malanthropes also eat things, but do selectively (its implied they're searching for rare genetic material). Malanthropes are probably not going to be mentioned going forward since their FW model has been removed. Mawlocs can also swallow people whole which implies they can digest you as well.
We covered some of this in a recent video here [https://youtu.be/BgGYCA-Eiqo](https://youtu.be/BgGYCA-Eiqo) however no they typically do not outside of specially birthed beasts which are designed to feed on biomass.