Alien (The Movie)

[David W Wheat]

Cynthia Donahey (cdonahey at freenet.columbus.oh.us) wrote:

: There is a certain wasp (it sounds like ickie-minnie) that lays its eggs in
: the body cavities of certain spiders.  Now what I want to know is if the
: monster in Alien is actually copied from the original, or did these people
: make up their own monster?

There are hundreds, probably thousands of species that parasitize other
species by laying eggs in eggs, larvae, and adults.  There are parasites
of parasites.  I am not familiar with any that have a life cycle like
the aliens, where "facehuggers" emerge directly from alien eggs upon
approach of a suitable host.  The facehuggers are mobile, too (see
"Aliens").  Then the adult emerges from the host, but before consuming it.
That doesn't sound like biology, but like "jumping out at you" fiction.
However, there may be something in nature that works that way (using the 
host as a vector rather than a food source is common).
Regards,
David