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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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→Physiology: spelling
Genestealers are bipedal, standing in a perpetual crouch atop hooved feet, and have two sets of arms, one equipped with Human-like hands, one with powerful ripping claws.{{Cite This}} The dense musculature and distending hinge of their jaw allows the generation of incredible bite-pressure.<sup>4</sup>
Their olfactory organ is linked at its base to the rear of their palette, combining their scent and taste for posible possible use as a sophisticated air-analysis method. They also display respiratory gill systems along the dermis/valves between their fused exo-ribs. This system is then somehow linked to breathing holes on their limbs and cranium.<sup>4</sup>
However these characteristics may not be general across all Genestealers, as they are one of the most mutable Tyranid specimens and often exhibit a wide and varying range of different traits. It has been hypothesised that these traits manifest dependent on the particular host species the infection discovers; but this theory has been disregarded by some experts, citing that the traits are more likely different Genestealer subspecies altogether, which are separate from the host.<sup>2</sup>
Genestealers that have been born from Human hosts display twisted parodies of human hands and grotesque fingernails. Infact, the deeper into the galaxy a Genestealer infestation is found, the more divergent they become from the 'purestrain' Genestealers which arrive in the galaxy with the Hive Fleets and were bron born from hosts outside the galaxy. This diluting and morphing of the Genestealer species goes some way to explain the differing behaviour observed among different broods.<sup>1</sup>
===Reproduction===
