Judas Breed

The Judas Breed are an insectoid species in the Mimic film series.

When Stricklers Disease struck the city of New York, it wiped out thousands, many of whom were small children. The disease had no cure, and no vaccine. In order to wipe out the disease, the authorities decided to go after the carrier - cockroaches. But cockroaches are very resilient, and chemical control was useless, so the authorities turned to the CDC to create a new insect, one that would wipe out the cockroach populations - they created the Judas Breed.

The Judas Breed were created in the genetic labs - a new species created by splicing cockroach, mantis and termite DNA. They were to be mans ally against the cockroaches, producing an enzyme which caused the cockroach's metabolism to go into overdrive, making them starve to death. They were introduced into the sewer systems where the cockroaches lived and within days every cockroach was dead - the disease was contained.

The Judas Breed were created to undergo rapid enzymatic change due to the recombinant DNA and a suicide gene was introduced to create a life expectancy of 120-180 days. But something went wrong. They survived.

When the Judas Breed was created, their metabolism was sped up. They bred faster. Many generations passed in a short space of time - which meant more mutations. And these mutations were acted upon by evolution - those that were beneficial to the species were passed on to further generations. Life expectancy increased, and the suicide gene disappeared from the gene pool. Over a three year period the Judas Breed rapidly evolved.

Like many species in the earth based animal kingdom, the Judas Breed evolved to mimic their predators. Man. They evolved to imitate us, infiltrate us, and breed a legion.

The Judas Breed are born from an ootheca, or egg case, which contains many young insects. These egg cases are a dark orange in color and have a gelatinous consistency. They are roughly 60 cm across, by 35 cm high and are usually found attached to a wall or other large object by some form of resin-like residue.

Once hatched, a young Judas Breed nymph is approximately 20 cm long, with a hard brown/orange chitinous exoskeleton and resembled a large Hissing Cockroach. They have six legs, each of which ends in a very sharp point, and three sets of wings. Even at this young age, the Judas Breed are very vicious and will attack if threatened.

Adult Judas Breed have evolved to mimic humans. They possess six legs, wings, a head, thorax and abdomen like normal earth based insects, but they do not look like insects at first glance. The Judas Breed are the size of adult humans, having evolved lungs (the lack of which ensures insects stay relatively small) through mutation in successive generations. They walk upright on their two hind legs, keep their middle set of legs (like those of a Praying Mantis) close to their body, and use their two fore legs to cover their face. They wrap their wings tightly around their bodies, giving them the rough form of a human in a long coat. Perhaps most amazing of all, the Judas Breed have evolved structures on its forelimbs that when placed together in front of their head make up two halves of a hard chitinous plate that strongly resembles the human face.

With this structure in place and its' wings wrapped tightly around it, the Judas Breed looks very human in the half light and casts a convincing shadow and silhouette.

The Judas Breed are deadly predators and will fight to the death if confronted, no matter how badly injured they become. The Judas Breed is attracted to the smell of blood, and will either kill its prey and consume them on the spot, or they will stun them and carry them to a form of pantry.

They can sense chemical changes and identify each other by their scent. Communication is achieved by a clicking sound produced by the mouthparts. The Judas Breed roost like bats, hanging upside down in large colonies. They excrete on the ceiling.

The adult Judas Breed live in sheltered colonies, with a caste system similar to that of termites. There is one fertile male and the female soldier caste lives to serve him. The male of the species is larger than the females, of a lighter coloring, and does not possess wings. He moves using his four hind legs, while his two lead legs are used as mantis-like forearms.

Due to the Judas Breed's increased metabolism and breed rate, they go through many generations in a short time. As mutations occur in each generation, if a section of the Judas Breed species is separated from the main population and continue to evolve under new environmental circumstances, they will eventually reach a point where they have mutated to be so different as to be classed as a new genus of the original Judas Breed species.