The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 2 Predation
  This newly born individual of the feather-winged horseshoe crab is a brand-new individual "cultivated" by the mother nest after devouring most of the giant trilobite and several Sakaban turtles.

Under normal circumstances, horseshoe crabs, as early chelicerate limbs, are oviparous and molt-developing species.

This means that these giant insects, which are one meter long, may not be much larger when they are born than ordinary shrimps and crabs in later generations.

But the individual produced by the mother's nest was different. According to the sensory signals transmitted from his consciousness, which represented the mother's nest, Lin Yi learned that this individual was directly transformed into a pupa in the form of complete metamorphosis of insects in later generations. In a short period of time, a large amount of nutrients obtained are transformed into a brand new individual.

The body that Lin Yi controlled before was also cultivated by the Brood in this way. Such a stunt could never be evolved by a creature of this era, making the origin of the brood even more mysterious.

Why it appeared in the Ordovician period 400 million years ago, and why it chose the feather-winged horseshoe crab, Lin Yi had no way of knowing because his consciousness had not awakened before.

But at least, Lin Yi knew that no matter what, the Mother's Nest had now become the core of his "hive mind" consciousness. Now, his own life is closely related to this mother's nest.

While thinking, the exoskeleton of the newborn individual gradually hardened, and the layer of pupal skin wrapped around the body when the mother's nest was born has completely faded away, allowing this body to swim freely in this shallow tropical sea 400 million years ago.

Lin Yi's consciousness also took over the control of the second feathered horseshoe body without any hindrance, controlling it as freely as an extension of his own limbs.

The mother's nest sent back a signal indicating a lack of nutrients - the individual's nervous system was perfectly linked to Lin Yi's consciousness, allowing him to understand the status of all individuals in real time.

Producing a feather-winged horseshoe crab not only consumes all the organic matter provided by the previous Sakaban soft-shell turtles and most of the trilobites, but also consumes some nutrients stored in the mother's nest. This makes it easier to continue to hunt and obtain food. More nutrients became a priority.

The huge compound eyes of the two feather-winged horseshoe crab bodies faced each other. The bodies covered with tawny exoskeletons appeared in Lin Yi's consciousness, and the memories of his past life slowly emerged.

The giant feather-winged horseshoe crab was once mistaken for a giant graptolite when its fossil was discovered. It is also known as the giant graptolite horseshoe crab, also known as the sea scorpion. It is a distant relative of the existing horseshoe crab, and these two nest versions The body structure of the feather-winged horseshoe crab is completely consistent with the restored image in later generations, and there is basically no difference from the real original version.

Four hundred million years ago, before fish evolved jaws, they were not apex predators, but they were still enough to be ranked second in the food chain.

Therefore, two individual feather-winged horseshoe crabs under the same hive mind consciousness are not worried about encountering any danger at least in this sea area.

The Sakaban turtles in the nearby coral reefs have eaten up all the trilobite meat residues used by Lin Yi to make their nests. It is unrealistic to continue to be a fisherman.

As for the feather-winged horseshoe crab, which is more than one meter long and is an active predator, simply ambush and crouch is too inefficient, so he decided to take the initiative.

Several trilobites appeared in Lin Yi's sight. In this era, trilobites still maintain a high degree of diversity, ranging from tiny aphids to overlords that are as big as feather-winged horseshoe crabs, occupying a variety of ecological niches.

The trilobites in front of him, which Lin Yi couldn't even name, were about thirty to forty centimeters in size, and they were ideal prey. Lin Yi controlled the newly produced horseshoe crab individual from the mother nest to float above, monitoring one of the lone trilobites with a pair of compound eyes, and the individual feather-winged horseshoe crab that had been produced earlier Then aim at the target and approach slowly from the side and behind, with a pair of sickle limbs spread out, ready to go.

The broad and flat tail suddenly exerted force, pushing the body to split the water waves. The trilobite realized something was wrong, and took out the countless short jointed limbs under its body and fled.

But it was already too late. Lin Yi controlled the largest pair of sickle-shaped appendages to close suddenly. The ferocious long spines on the appendages framed the trilobite's flat body like a cage. No matter how hard it struggled, it could not escape.

Then, a pair of smaller sickle-shaped appendages next to the mouthparts opened and closed, piercing and tearing open the exoskeleton of the trilobite again and again. The long scorpion-like tail of the posterior body was also raised above the head, and the tail hook at the end stabbed fiercely. Down.

The gushing tissue fluid spreads, and the rippling water waves become turbid along with the fine sand raised by the water flow stirred by the fan tail and paddle feet.

The other trilobites fled in all directions, but another individual of the Trilobites had been waiting for a long time, and immediately swung its tail and rushed down from the other side.

The sickle limbs closed, pierced, and tore in the same manner, and another trilobite was dismembered.

At this time, the remaining trilobites had already run away, and Lin Yi also controlled two individuals of the feather-winged horseshoe crab to stop the pursuit. Instead, he sandwiched the trophy between the sickle limbs and returned to the mother nest.

As an early chelicerate arthropod, the mouthpart structure of the horseshoe crab is very primitive. It is so primitive that it is inappropriate to call it a mouthpart. It is simply a specialized tooth-like structure at the end of the limb for grinding food.

This made their feeding efficiency not very efficient 400 million years ago. Therefore, Lin Yi controlled them to transport the prey carcasses back to the mother nest first, giving priority to supplying the mother nest. Then, he tore off some food residue and swallowed it whole.

Of course, among these residues is naturally the "bait" prepared for the Sakaban soft-shelled turtle - there is no way, this thing is the best to bully, a small mouth of a sand sculpture without a jawbone has no offensive power at all, and a layer of armor cannot defend it. The adult feathered horseshoe crab is violently torn apart, and its swimming skills are poor. The body of the oval body that is 20 to 30 centimeters long has more meat than a flat trilobite. The most important thing is that he is still stupid, which is good news for fishermen.

The only drawback is probably that the meat of vertebrates is relatively dense and not suitable for the primitive mouthparts of the feather-winged horseshoe crab. But it doesn't matter, regardless of whether the mother's nest is picked or stuffed into the hole, it can be digested cleanly.

After handling the two trilobites, one of the individual Trilobites picked up a few small pieces of food residue with a pair of smaller sickle limbs and continued to swim towards the dense fish school, while the other individual Limulus stayed behind. Next to the mother nest, it swam around the huge honeycomb-shaped main part of the mother nest, thoughtfully.

Although nominally, the two individuals under Lin Yi's conscious control are both born from this mother's nest, in fact, in the consciousness network, the three are completely equal nodes. Even if the mother's nest is lost, Lin Yi's consciousness will not die immediately.

But for him, the mother nest is still indispensable - not only its ability to quickly produce new individuals, but also its special functions.

　Internal investment has passed, investment is welcome ()
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)