Colicoid

The Colicoids were a species of chitinous, insect-like creatures which were native to the planet Colla IV. They had a highly-developed level of technology. However, they were also incredibly brutal as a species, and were known to barbarically stop any travellers through their system and eat them. They were extremely skilled in the creation of automata, and the Colicoid Creation Nest was the primary developers of the destroyer droids used by the Trade Federation. These droids, known as droidekas, resemble the Colicoid physiology, even mimicking the Colicoid ability to roll up into a ball and surprise their prey. This ability to roll into a ball was an adaptation of an ancient survival mechanism, used by the ancestors of the Colicoids to avoid being killed by the hueche. Over time, the Colicoids found ways to eradicate that hueche, but continued to use the ball form in other ways. The Colicoid species had a strong distrust of the Jedi Knights, a feeling which was intensified in the wake of the Battle of Naboo. It was during this time that the Colicoids took control of the spice mining operations on Kessel, hoping to establish a strong inflow of credits to their coffers. They tried to acquire the rights to a spice processing plant on Nar Shaddaa, but had to negotiate with the slaver Krayn to obtain them. In the wake of the Clone Wars, the Colicoids had decided to abandon their home on Colla IV, hoping that establishing a new home on a remote planet in the Tion Cluster would help avoid persecution at the hands of the Empire.