Broodling

A Broodling is a short-lived Zerg creature spawned from Queens.

Overview
Broodlings are grown from globs of spores launched from Queens. These spores attempt to 'fertilize' any organic matter they come into contact with and are capable of eating through even the armored hulls of vehicles to reach the occupants within. Should these spores make contact with an organic being, they force the organism to metabolize, serving as the breeding ground for a near instantaneous metabolization and birth of a pair of Broodlings. The explosive birth is fatal to the host.

Broodlings are small but vicious and upon hatching, will attack any nearby enemies. In the event that there are no nearby enemies, they await for a command from a higher strain. Their effectiveness is primarily compramised however, by a very limited lifespan.

After the Brood War, the ability to create Broodlings was seemingly lost by Queens, and are now created from Infested Terran and Protoss structures.

StarCraft
Two Broodlings are created using a Queens Spawn Broodling ability and last a maximum of 180 seconds. Broodlings can wrought havoc in a Siege Tank artillery line. The initial spawning destroys one tank, while the other closely packed tanks damage each other via splash damage as they fire on the Broodlings.

It is even possible to spawn Broodlings from a Broodling.

Upgrades

 * Melee Attacks
 * Carapace

"Invincible" Broodling
In Dark Origin, slaying a specific Ursadon creates a broodling that does not have a 'countdown' life span. Aside from that it behaves like any other broodling and may be mind-controlled by a Dark Archon.

StarCraft II
In StarCraft II, the Broodling is no longer created by Queens. Instead, they are created from from Infested Terran and Protoss structures.