Define 'nifty'... for that matter, define 'minor'! Racial abilities are going to be written into the game mechanics, so they can affect the whole game.
That said:
1) How about replacing 'hardy industrialists' slight boost in production capacity with a real change in ability? Let them build ships at any world without a space yard.
2) 'Non-respiratory' -- This is a race that does not need to breathe, like Silicoids in MOO, and so treats all atmospheres the same -- even None! Should probably be as expensive as "Emotionless" since it's another sort of immunity.
3) 'Xenophobe' -- More or less like in Moo, you have very limited diplomatic options but woul dget some racial points back to spend on other things.
4) 'Xenophage' -- this one is a bit nastier. Like the Kzinti, you regard other races as food. This woul allow 'harvesting' other races as a resource when you conquer their planets, but cause a very bad diplomatic reaction from other races.
5) 'Fragile' -- A race that is so physically delicate that it cannot engage in ground combat at all. Not able to use troops, and no militia appear to defend planets when invaded. If enemy can land troops on the planet, invasion is automatically successful. Should returns lots of racial points to be used on something else. (The Amon Krie are good candidates for this. How do worms operate battlemechs?)
6) 'anarchist' -- assuming that the 'seat of government' feature so many of us want is ever implemented, there can be a special trait to not need it just like there is currently a special trait to not need space ports.