Bot-spider

Aaah! Somebody call Sigourney Weaver!

Bot-spiders (also simply bot-parasites) are amoeba-like organic-technological parasites, and one of the few forms of Cybertronic wildlife known to feed off Transformers.

Bot-spiders may appear inert, blending in with their surroundings until a suitable prey approaches. They then swarm, descending en masse to feed on the victim. Though individually fragile, large numbers of the parasites can overwhelm most Transformers, eventually resulting in death. The bot-spiders then appear to cocoon their victims in a coral or fungus-like growth until they reach mummified state. The process can cause exo-structural bleaching, giving the shells a ghostly age-whitened appearances.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

While pursuing the Decepticon Thrust through Cybertron's lower levels, Starscream and several others passed through the Unicron-Cybertron warp-gate into Unicron's depths where they encountered the cocooned remains of the bot-spiders' victims.

Sideways commanded the concealed bot-spiders to attack the group, then left, trusting the parasites to finish them off. All parties were able to escape, either by quickly fleeing or by systematically whittling down the swarm's numbers until free of them. Portent

Notes

• Bot-spiders appear to be part of Unicron's immune or digestive system, responding to commands and acting in-tandem with other such systems—but the Decepticon Wheeljack recognized them, indicating the creatures are known on Cybertron as well. Because the bot-spiders' lair within Unicron is also the location of the secret Cybertron-Unicron warp gate they may simply have spread from one location to the other.