Doctor Who: EVERY Version Of The Cybermen Explained

7. Cybermites (First Appearance: 2013)

The Cybermen eventually developed an even smaller, more advanced form of Cybermat: the Cybermite.

Resembling cybernetic insects, Cybermites are adapted to keep the Cybermen going at any cost. Even more versatile than Cybermats and Cybershades, they constantly scuttle around and end up in places where they’re not welcome. The Cybermen would seed groups of Cybermites into the surface of conquered planets, leaving them there until they were needed.

Crucially, they’re capable of performing partial conversions, which enables them to rapidly expand Cyberman forces – as seen on Hedgewick’s World of Wonders, where the Cybermites performed a partial conversion on the human Webley, by first animating his chess-playing Cyberman.

As the Cybermen who lay dormant beneath the planet woke up, the need for Cybermites diminished. But they also facilitated the Doctor’s conversion into Mr Clever.

Like insects, they’re almost impossible to eradicate completely. Which means that, more than any other type of Cyberman, they always survive. They're Cyber-Cockroaches!

Indeed, even after the business on Hedgewick’s World was over, a single Cybermite could be seen drifting through space…