Noncanonical Information
A 1970s technical fiction book, The Starfleet Medical Manual, held that Andorians were the only known semi-insectoid race in Federation territory, with a limited exoskeleton and antennae used for both quadriscopic vision reception and focused hearing. These points were repeated in the 1980s book Worlds of the Federation. Fully insectoid races seen onscreen include the unseen Jarada in the Next Generation episode "The Big Goodbye", and the Xindi, which were introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise's third season.
In the Deep Space Nine relaunch novels, four-person Andorian marriages were extrapolated into four sexes (the aforementioned thaan, chen, shen and zhen). A recurring plot point in the novels is that the rarity of compatible foursomes produced extremely low reproduction rates which, in tandem with genetic weaknesses, led to the species' near extinction.
Similarly, the Marvel comic book Star Trek: Starfleet Academy refers to complex yet flexible marital structures, involving one or more fathers, and describes Andorians as passionate, with a violent history.
In the 2010 book Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony by Dayton Ward, Andor withdraws from the Federation in 2382. However, the Andorian government still maintains diplomatic relations with the Federation, and Andorian officers are allowed to remain in Starfleet if they so choose. Despite Andor's withdrawal, a sizable percentage of the population (represented by the "New Progressive Party", as opposed to the secessionist "Visionist Party") favored continuing membership in the Federation, opening the possibility of a later reunification.
Read more about this topic: Andorian
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