the great samus sheet

[Kenjitake]

The kihunters also had a different mouth in Super, where it was like a mosquitos, but it could be an aesthetic change, like how Zero looks different between Megaman X and Megaman Zero.

And there is another unused sprite I just notice with the kihunter...

...they're under the flame tiles. Little flys...okay, little kihunters.

The way it's presented, they start off as the red insects. Those become cocoons and eventually become kihunters, that's a given. After its metamorphosis it's probably reproduces with a hive and those little kihunters become big kihunters.

The hive could have been inspired by Metroid Prime, I mean it was in develop before Fusion was.

wow, I had missed something that I had all along. I had the same Idea when I saw the hives, It reminded me of the warwasps.