Weevil

The Weevils were a race of savage alien humanoids found in Cardiff, due to the Cardiff Rift.

Biology


Weevils were roughly humanoid in shape and size, but were a bit taller and had flattened faces with many sharp, fang-like teeth. Though faster and stronger then Humans, they were not extraordinarily powerful and could be injured with electricity, brute force or by Torchwood's anti-Weevil spray--though they began to develop a resistance to the spray. (TW: Combat) Weevils were incapable of swimming. (BBCR: Lost Souls) They had a distinctive hunting style, always going straight for the kill by biting and ripping at the throat and body. (TW: Countrycide)

The Pharm was able to extract a pesticide and a powerful defoliant from the Weevils. (TW: Reset)

Abilities
Weevils had mild telepathic abilities and could feel strong emotions from other Weevils far away. This allowed them to develop a basic social order and to mourn the pain and loss of other Weevils. (TW: Combat) Despite this, they were unable or unwilling to communicate with Humans. (TW: Everything Changes) When the Cardiff rift fractured, Weevils in captivity in the Hub's basement howled, seemingly with fear, leading Jack Harkness to speculate that the Weevils had some degree of time sensitivity.

Weevils also had the ability to detect the illusions created by Bilis Manger, (TW: End of Days) were afraid of the sleeper agents (TW: Sleeper) and followed Owen Harper after he was brought back by the Resurrection Gauntlet. (TW: Dead Man Walking)

Origins
Though the Torchwood Institute did not know the native time period and/or homeworld of the Weevils, an uninformed layperson, Mark Lynch believed, however that the Weevils may be descended from Humans, at a point in the future when "all that is left is rage". (TW: Combat) However, early Torchwood Research believed they weren't derived from any native Earth species. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)

Early Interactions with Humans
The Weevils had been arriving on Earth for over a thousand years, and Torchwood 3 believed they had been seen in the such places as the sewers of 4th century Byzantium and 1930s New York. The Torchwood Institute had known about them since the 1950s. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk)


 * It is likelier that the 1930s New York infestation was actually that of Pig Slaves created by the Daleks. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks'')

In 1497, via a Resurrection Gauntlet, a powerful being, Durac, identified with and embodying death itself, entered the Universe. The Weevils worshiped it. Humans associated Weevils with death and in, woodcuts, illustrated a being intermediate between the popular image of the Grim Reaper and the Weevils, implying that the Weevils had, perhaps, inspired the Grim Reaper image. (TW: Dead Man Walking)

21st century
The Weevils had been more commonly seen in 21st century Cardiff, where hundreds lived in the sewers. They generally ate the most common resource in the sewers, though they occasionally ventured out to feed on Humans. (TW: Everything Changes) Others lived in the the church of St. Mary's, where they had collected a wide range of Human artifacts. (TW: Dead Man Walking)


 * Though seemingly unintelligent, all Weevils were shown wearing what looked like black synthetic fabric pajamas. Whether they steal them or make them themselves is unknown. At least one, however, wore an outfit with the words "Torchwood" on it, suggesting that Torchwood 3 clothes them after they capture them.

One of the jobs of the Torchwood 3 was to capture these Weevils and put them in storage cells in the lower level of the Hub. Several cages were kept for storing these rogue Weevils and anti-Weevil spray and handcuffs are stored for this purpose. (TW: Everything Changes) As such, many missions of Torchwood were started while hunting Weevils. (TW: Reset, BBCR: Lost Souls)

Some Weevils were captured by Mark Lynch for his "Weevil Fight Club", where Humans battled against Weevils to deal with their pent-up rage; one of the Weevils captured was Torchwood's Janet, who was subsequently recovered. (TW: Combat)

When the Cardiff rift fractured, more Weevils than ever appeared on the streets, making Torchwood 3's task of rounding them up even more difficult. (TW: End of Days)


 * When the fractures sealed up and the other temporal refugees returned home, we do not know if the new Weevils vanished as well.

Unknown to Torchwood 3, the Pharm had also captured at least one Weevil as part of their self-assigned mission to exploit the unique qualities of alien species for use in biomedical research. As noted above, the Pharm discovered the Weevils useful as far as developing new kinds of defoliant and pesticide. (TW: Reset)

After Owen Harper was killed at the Pharm, Jack Harkness went to the church of St. Mary's and stole a Resurrection Gauntlet from the Weevils. When Durac returned and possessed the undead Owen Harper, Weevils followed him.(TW: Dead Man Walking)

On another occasion, Torchwood was chasing a rogue Weevil through Cardiff when Jack was contacted by Martha Jones on the disappearances at the Large Hadron Collider. In the mean time, the Weevil was accidentally chased into the river, where it drowned. (BBCR: Lost Souls)