The Halbert - named after a pole-arm named a Halberd - was an experimental B.O.W. species. They were created simply as a result of Umbrella researchers in the Bio-Sphere attempting to combine the DNA of the
Cockroach and the horseshoe crab. The result was unexpected and interesting - the creature resembled a
Bee or a
Wasp with warning markings, flight and the same kind of hierarchical structure where there was a queen surrounded by drones.
The
Cockroach and horseshoe crab were both selected due to their armour-like carapaces and their well-known imperviousness - for example it's well-documented that the
Cockroach can survive even the worst conditions.
It's not known exactly but it's likely that the Queen was the first to be created, and then she was medically impregnated somehow and then the drones emerged some time later. A relatively small amount of Halbert were ever created, enough to be classed as a single swarm. The Queen was eventually encountered by
Bruce McGivern who quickly deduced that her abdomen was armoured and thus difficult to penetrate and he focused on attacking her upper half exclusively which wore her down and she was soon killed.
The Queen herself had no mobility and could not attack directly, although her swarm would react to her being in danger and would attempt to kill Bruce. Fortunately for him, they often signalled when they were about to attack and could also be taken down with one or two hits which meant controlling the encounter was more straightforward than he thought. The death of the Queen caused the swarm to disperse randomly. It's not thought that any Halbert survived after this as they no longer had a Queen to look after. Although, with their resilience being a factor it's entirely possible that somewhere, one still lives...
