List of fictional extraterrestrials
This is a list of extraterrestrial species by type that have appeared in various works of fiction featuring aliens.
Alphabetical lists
See subarticles:
Humanoids
Most aliens are humanoid if not human-like or part human, especially in live action TV series, because the actors are human and only require make-up or masks to appear alien. The Greys described in UFO folklore match this body type.
Non-human-like humanoids
Demihumans
Human-like aliens
Near-relatives, ancestors or descendants of humans
In these stories, these aliens are descended from the same ancestors as humanity, or are themselves ancestors. Some are descended directly from humanity:
- Abh (Crest of the Stars)
- Adeptus Astartes(Space Marines) (Warhammer 40,000), Humans genetically modified for the purpose of war
- Ancient (Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis)
- Ancient Humanoid (Star Trek)
- Ankharans (Crossgen)
- Androsynth, highly intelligent Homo sapiens clones. (Star Control)
- Atlantines (Dan Dare)
- "Colonials" (Battlestar Galactica)
- Humanoid Cylons (Battlestar Galactica)
- Darrian (Traveller) known for their small, high-technology polity
- Forest Guards (The Fall of the Towers)
- Futurekind (Doctor Who)
- Gethenian (Ekumen)
- Homo Drakensis (The Domination)
- Homo Servus (The Domination)
- Itorloo (Seeds of the Dusk), remote descendants of mankind
- Haemovore, vampiric creatures descended from humans, mutated by millennia of pollution (Doctor Who)
- Jaffa (Stargate SG-1)
- Kromagg (Sliders) killer apes who survived early evolution in a parallel Earth. Also considered Aliens From Another Dimension.
- Ludens (Noon Universe)
- Morlock (The Time Machine)
- Naram (Renegade Legion)
- Neanderthal (The Fall of the Towers)
- Nebish (Half Past Human).
- Neosapien (Exosquad)
- Nietzschean (Andromeda)
- Orion Rogue (Battlelords of the 23rd Century)
- Ogryn (Warhammer 40,000)
- Pak (or Protector) (Known Space)
- Primords, humans mutated into ape-like beasts (Doctor Who)
- Ratling (Warhammer 40,000)
- Sebaceans (Farscape)
- Second through Last Men (Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men)
- Squat (Warhammer 40,000)
- Terra Novan (Star Trek)
- Toclafane (Doctor Who)
- Underpeople - animals that have been modified to appear and act human. (Works of Cordwainer Smith)
- Vilani (Traveller RPG) known for their bureaucratic tendencies and empire building
- Zhodani (Traveller)
- similarly, in Marvel Comics' The Eternals, it was revealed that many species were genetically tampered with by the alien Celestials.
Mammalians
Canines
Chiropterans
Felines
Often portrayed as a "warrior race" due to their ferocious nature.
Simians
Rodents
Marsupials
Ursines
Ungulates
Avians
See also Avian humanoid.
Arthropods
See also Insectoid.
- Arachnids (Battlelords of the 23rd Century)
- The Arachnid Omnivoracity (Starfire)
- Bees (Doctor Who)
- Blisk (Destroy All Humans! 2)
- Brood (Marvel Comics)
- "Bug" (Starship Troopers)
- Bugs (Men in Black)
- Collector (Mass Effect 2)
- The Colony (Final Days of the Planet Earth)
- Cinnrusskin (Sector General)
- Cragmite (Ratchet & Clank)
- Drak (Farscape)
- Driel (Dark Planet)
- Antlion swarm (Half Life 2)
- Formic (Ender's Game)
- Gaim (Babylon 5)
- Inibit (Genesis Climber Mospeada) (called "Invid" in the Robotech American adaptation)
- Insects in The History of the Galaxy
- Insects in Castle series
- Ilwrath (Star Control)
- Klackons (Master of Orion)
- Keepers (Mass Effect)
- Klick (Star*Drive)
- Klikiss (Saga of Seven Suns)
- Kwai (DC Comics)
- The Lexx race (Lexx)
- Locust (listed under insectoid because of their superorganism-like society, the various Locust types are similar to a variety of creatures such as arachnids, humans, monkeys, bats, Queen type hive insects, jellyfish, and squid) (Gears of War)
- Macra (Doctor Who)
- Majat (Alliance-Union universe)
- Mantis (Conquest: Frontier Wars)
- Marmosian (Ascendancy)
- Martian (Quatermass and the Pit)
- Menoptra (Doctor Who) (butterfly-like)
- Mesklinites (Mission of Gravity) (millipede-like)
- Mind worm (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)
- Nagrab (Dan Dare)
- Optera, (Doctor Who)
- "Prawn" (District 9)
- Rachni (Mass Effect)
- Racnoss (Doctor Who) (spider-like)
- Re'tu (Stargate SG-1)
- Riders, highly aggressive inhabitants of Mother (Remnants)
- Scrin (Command & Conquer 3)
- Shadow (Babylon 5)
- Shivan (Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War)
- "Space Spider" (Lost in Space)
- Spider Aliens (Valiant Comics)
- Lepidopterran (Ben 10)
- Tachidi (Master of Orion)
- Taxxon, (Animorphs) (Centipede/worm-like).
- Tecreasean (Battlelords of the 23rd Century)
- Tetramite (Ratchet & Clank)
- Than (Andromeda)
- Thargoid (Elite)
- Thranx (Humanx Commonwealth)
- "The Titans" (Yoko Tsuno)
- Tyranid (Warhammer 40,000)
- Tractator (Doctor Who)
- Team Space Bug (Kaiju Big Battel)
- Uchuu Kaijuu ("Space Monsters") (Gunbuster)
- Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah (Star Control)
- Ur-Quan Kzer-Za (Star Control)
- Vajra (Macross Frontier)
- Vashta Nerada (presumably insectoid in nature, swarms of them can reduce a living organism to bones in seconds, then animating the remaining skeleton) ([[Doctor Who]]
- Vespid (Warhammer 40,000)
- Vore (Doctor Who)
- Vrusk (Star Frontiers)
- Wreaves (ConSentiency universe)
- Wirrn (Doctor Who) (wasp-like)
- Xeno (Alone in the Dark)
- Xenomorph (Alien)
- Xindi (Star Trek)
- Yanme'e (Halo)
- Zarbi (Doctor Who) (ant-like)
- Zerg (StarCraft)
Centaurs
Reptilians and amphibians
Another popular form. See also Reptilian humanoid and Amphibian humanoid.
Aquatic aliens
Parasites and symbiotes
Robotic and mechanical aliens
Aliens that are created through technological means. This category also includes lifeforms that have been altered so that their existence depends on implants and other technologies.
Cyborgs
See also Cyborg.
Pure machines
Space-living creatures
These fictional creatures purport to thrive in the biome of outer space.
Sentient plants & fungi
Ancient/Primordial races
Aliens that have either disappeared and left only ruins or developed to godlike, practically omnipotent entities.
Extremely exotic forms
- Aliens from Sector General by James White are among the most diverse. Crystalline methane creatures, continent sized carpets, rolling ring-shaped aliens, chlorine breathers, radiation eating telepaths and creatures assembled from several symbiont species meet in a setting of space hospital.
- Ark Megaforms (Noon Universe)
- Dyson Aliens (Peter F. Hamilton's "Pandora's Star")
- Edestekai, a tri-lateral primitive race encountered in Star Frontiers
- Eldila, barely visible faint, shifting light that are native to interplanetary space. (Space Trilogy)
- Meehook (Fusion)
- Gadmeer - Beings that live in a sulphur environment. (Stargate)
- Giygas (EarthBound) (Mother 2)
- Gladifer of Dennis Paul Himes
- Melnorme (Star Control)
- Oankali (Xenogenesis)
- Pan Spechi, each individual has five different bodies, occuping each one throughout their lifetime. (ConSentiency universe)
- Puppeteer, creatures with three legs and two manipulative heads. (Ringworld)(Known Space)
- Pilots (Farscape)
- Pkunk, appear like Toucans (Star Control)
- Qax (Xeelee Squence)
- Mr. Saturn (EarthBound)
- Slylandro (Star Control)
- Sphere (Sphere)
- Tralfamadorian (The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse 5)
- Taprisiots (Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment)
- Tweel from A Martian Odyssey
- Wanderers (most mysterious of the Noon Universe races, no information about their appearance is available, but most likely they're non-humanoid)
- Yuggs (Maggot-like)
- Zebesian Space Pirates (Metroid series — the species has a wide range of morphological variety)
Amorphous/Gaseous creatures
See also Amorphous creature.
Energy beings
See also Energy being.
Telepaths, spirits and incorporeal aliens
- The Animus, a telepathic alien intelligence with a corporeal form resembling an octopus (Doctor Who)
- Caleban - invisible telepathic beings who are actually the minds of stars (Whipping Star)
- C'tan - 'Star Vampires' worshipped and given corporeal form by the Necrontyr, only four still exist, only two of which (the Nightbringer and the Deceiver) are active, Mars (The Void Dragon) is believed to be one that was covered by space dust over trillions of years ago. (Warhammer 40,000)
- Dnyarri, non-humanoid Telepaths (Star Control)
- Ectonurite (Ben 10)
- Grog - conical sessile sentient telepaths (Known Space)
- Govorom - Feminine-like spirits of nature (Ascendancy)
- Hooloovoo, non-corporeal beings, when refracted in a prism, appear as a shade of blue. (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
- The Loki - A race of malevolent spirits that require hosts to survive. (Ratchet & Clank)
- Ly-Cilph - begin their lives as corporeal, but can latter become non-corporeal being. (Night's Dawn Trilogy)
- Phantoms (a ghost-like race from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within)
- Medusan, an incorporeal race that cannot be looked at by humanoids, or their appearence will drive you insane (Star Trek)
- Prophet (Star Trek)
- Watchers In The Dark (highly telepathic creatures that inhabit the ruins of Caliban, home of the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter) (Warhammer 40,000)
Grotesque vertebrates
- The Doublers, two-in-one semi-humanoids of Stanisław Lem's Eden
- Dug (Star Wars)
- The Face of Boe, a giant head in a jar-like support system (Doctor Who)
- Lloigor (Return of the Lloigor) (Vortices of energy; Solidify as vast, alien reptiles)
- Logrian (The History of the Galaxy) (two-headed xenomorphs)
- Osakar - four-legged non-centauroid race of genetically identical individuals. (Star Frontiers)
- Orfa (Ascendancy)
- Photino Birds, made up of Dark Matter (Xeelee Squence)
- Slitheen (or, more accurately, Raxicoricofallopatorians — Slitheen is a family name, not the species), bipedal, vaguely humanoid creatures with sharp claws and baby faces, made of living calcium, (Doctor Who)
- Snovemdoma, similar to mammoths. (Ascendancy)
- Swaparaman (Ascendancy)
- Spline, whalelike creatures that rebuilt themselves into living ships (Xeelee Squence)
Microscopic aliens
Invertebrates
- Abyormenite - floating ballons (Cycle of Fire)
- Ceph - Cephalopod - like creatures. It's theorised that they are not actual beings, but tools of a more advanced race. (Crysis)
- Chtorr - Pink wormlike creatures. According to David, the Chtorr can also refer to the entire alien ecology. (War Against the Chtorr)
- Chronomyst - sentient jellyfish-like creatures that communicate by refracting light within their bodies. (Ascendancy)
- Dubtak, sperm cell-like creatures (Ascendancy)
- Garrotian Snail (Noon Universe)
- Harmonia (The Sirens of Titan), a cave-dwelling flatworm-like race living on Mercury.
- Great Race of Yith of H. P. Lovecraft (Disembodied, time-hopping minds of a long-dead alien race; Known bodies used are gigantic molluscs and large beetles)
- Hiver (Traveller) (modified starfish)
- Mars People, intelligent creatures resembling squids or octopi, sporting a great amount of tendril-like tentacles. (Metal Slug)
- Rigellians (Lensman books) which are barrel-shaped with four tentacular arms and four stubby legs
- Martian (The War of the Worlds)
- Kambuchka (Ascendancy).
- Lekgolo (Halo)
- Mgalekgolo - Beings composed of multiple Lekgolo worms that, together, form a single, sentient organism. (Halo)
- Mebes - Giant single-celled sentient organisms. (Ascendancy)
- Spathi, similar to shellfish (Star Control)
- Utrom (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
- Ul-Mor, a race of sentient land-dwelling octopus-like nomads encountered in Star Frontiers
- VUX, green tentacular creatures (Star Control)
- Zoq-Fot-Pik (Star Control)
Inorganic lifes
Living planets
See also List of fictional living planets.
Shape-shifting aliens
Non-Sapient creatures
These fictional extraterrestrials display no signs of sapience.
Aliens from other dimensions
Generalizations
Galactic communities
Interstellar governments or communities in which several alien civilizations interact.
See also
References