"Would you like a souvenir...?"

An art-thief, prop-thief, opportunist tongue-snatcher...call them what you like, but someone has stolen part of the London Film Museum's 'alien queen' exhibit.

The maquette, which features the Giger-inspired matriarchal monster from James Cameron's Aliens (1986), later to make a brief appearance in Jean Pierre Jeunet's own Alien franchise entry Alien Resurrection (1997), has taken the inner part of the alien queen's jaw. Coincidentally - we presume - this is also a stunning tribute to Alien Resurrection, wherein the cloned Ripley had a nasty habit of taking alien tongues as souvenirs (see the picture above, where she is offering one to a disgusted Winona Ryder).

The incident occurred on Wednesday. The exhibit has been in the hands of the LFM's founder Jonathan Sands for twenty years, and stands a brooding guard over a group of her alien eggs. Sands said: "It saddens me that someone felt the urge to lean over the barrier and take the inner jaw section, therefore making the piece incomplete. Whoever has taken the jaw is probably looking to sell it on, so we are monitoring auction websites for any items that appear, and we are reviewing security footage of the museum and will hopefully be able to find the culprit soon."

Amnesty will be given to the culprit if they return the piece, and anyone who has knowledge of its whereabouts can phone the London Film Museum's Mark Best on +44 (0)20 7202 7040 Ext. 7080.

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