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The Tyranids were first attracted to the [[Galaxy|Milky Way Galaxy]] when the xenos communication device known as the [[Pharos (Device)|Pharos]] was overloaded in the [[Battle of Sotha]] during the [[Horus Heresy]].{{Fn|12}} The exact origin of the Tyranids themselves is unclear, save the fact that they are not of [[The Galaxy]] and have only recently arrived here after traveling countless millennia in the intergalactic void. It is unknown which galaxy they originated from, or for how long the Tyranid race has been on its genocidal rampage, but it is believed that it is the [[Astronomican]] that is drawing the Tyranid Hive Fleet to threaten the galaxy{{fn|1j}}. Indeed their very name is but a title given to them by the [[Imperium]], named after the planet where they were first encountered ([[Tyran]]). It is possible that they have been preying on other galaxies since time immemorial.{{Fn|1b}} According to another source, they have consumed one thousand galaxies and are responsible for the annihilation of millions of intelligent species.{{Fn|3}}
The Imperium's first official contact with the Tyranid race was in 741.[[M41]], when the [[Hive Fleet]] later known as [[Behemoth]] invaded the [[Eastern Fringe]] and annihilated planet [[Tyran]]. However, reexamination of Imperial records has led to speculation that the Tyranids have been invading, or at least probing, the Galaxy for much longer. Some of the Galaxy's most notorious predatory beasts, such as the [[Catachan Devil]]{{Fn|2b}} or the [[Fenris]]ian [[Kraken (Sea Creature)|Fenrisian Kraken]]{{Fn|8}}, are guessed to be the descendants of ancient Hive Fleets.
Records kept by the [[Ordo Xenos]] of the [[Inquisition]] suggest contact with Tyranid bio-forms as early back as [[M35]]; even more remarkable, in 937.[[M41]], a [[Bio-ship]] was discovered beneath the surface of [[Nusquam Fundumentibus]], where it had lain dormant since around [[M34]]. This discovery raised the disquieting possibility that other dormant Hive units are already "salted" around the Imperium as a whole, waiting for a new Hive Fleet to awaken them{{Fn|9}}.
