The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 69 Full-tooth Hurd shrimp

Trench.

In Lin Yi's territory, a workhorse slowly swung its paddling feet under his control, crossed the trench, and drew a circle on the ground.

The action of the worker was quickly noticed by the nearby three-eyed Heder shrimp. It waved its leaf legs, its three compound eyes shone with luster, and slowly landed on the seabed. Its appendages slowly drew a question mark on the sand.

Yes, during this period of time, Lin Yi taught the Anomalocaris nest group how to use question marks and exclamation marks through various gestures, which facilitated further communication between the two parties.

After the other party came to the rescue, Lin Yi felt a little guilty. I feel that I have been too defensive against the other party for a long time.

But now, he is here to make up for his previous mistakes and express his sincerity to the other party.

Gong Hao raised his two pairs of chelicerae and waved them upward. The huge body of a pioneer female swung its five pairs of paddling legs and slowly swam across the trench using its water jet propulsion system.

Immediately, an egg slowly detached from the end of the abdomen of the pioneering female shrimp, and was caught by the worker shrimp. Then it was picked up by its claws and handed to the three-eyed Hed shrimp in front of it.

This egg contains a level of genetic sequence specially designed by Lin Yi for the anomaly shrimp nest group to make up for the shortcomings of the swordfish-shaped Hed shrimp, which has more than enough power to attack small and numerous enemies, but is somewhat insufficient when facing large enemies. plate.

Of course, lowering your guard and completely treating the opponent as an ally does not mean that the trump card is completely shared.

He still kept secret the genetic fragments needed to create such a terrifying war beast as the Dreadnought. Moreover, the level blueprint provided still had limited armor-breaking capabilities and could not damage the Dreadnought's exoskeleton.

The new grade is developed based on the genetic template of Anomalocaris and the swordfish-shaped Herd shrimp. It reaches a size of five meters, which is half the size of the Dreadnought.

But it is not speed-biased like the swordfish-shaped Hurd shrimp, the largest species in the Anomalocaris nest group at present, but a powerful hunter.

There are a pair of ferocious appendages on both sides of their heads that extend to the sides instead of underneath the body. The leaf feet on the sides of the body are also different from the ordinary anomalocaridids and swordfish-shaped Heder shrimps in the nest. Similar to the classic form of Anomalocaris Canada.

Lin Yi arranged the mouth cone of Anomalocaris directly in front of the head instead of below it, in the middle of the pair of ferocious appendages. When the appendages are closed, the prey will be gathered into the mouth cone.

In this way, except for the pair of compound eyes on the eyestalks and the more developed leaf legs and tail lobes, their shape is not like Anomalocaris, but like a Cambrian predator that belongs to the same class as Anomalocaris. The giant holodont.

Therefore, the new grade prepared for the Anomalocaris nest group was called Heder shrimp with full teeth by Lin Yi.

At the same time, the eggs not only contained the genetic sequence of the full-toothed Heder shrimp that Lin Yi tailor-made for him, but also contained the genetic sequence related to the vesicle structure of the floating mother nest and the clusters of ringworms that fixed the mother nest.

These are considered as his compensation for the Anomalocaris nest group, and Lin Yi will no longer restrict the expansion of the Anomalocaris nest group except for one side of the trench.

In this era, the area of ​​​​the ocean is vast enough to fully support the coexistence of two large nest groups.

Except for the special environment of the Dikla Crater, most areas are not irreplaceable. It is worthwhile to choose some waters to supply the development of Anomalocaris nests in exchange for an ally who is not weak in strength.

Although the strange shrimp nest group was a little baffled, they gladly accepted Lin Yi's gift.

After explaining everything, thinking about the various behaviors of the strange shrimp nest, Lin Yi couldn't help but fell into deep thought again. Unlike the various nests where demons were dancing around at this time, the eusocial insects of later generations were called "superorganisms." But this super-individual lacks brain and consciousness in the true sense.

In swarms of eusocial species, the pheromones that connect each individual together are truly the key to swarm behavior.

The behavior of each individual is determined by the pheromone network, and at the same time, each individual releases pheromones according to changes in the environment to affect the entire pheromone network.

But such an intelligent structure is not so much a brain as a special simple computer system, just like the humanoid computer in a famous science fiction novel by Lin Yi in his previous life.

It is this simple computer-like system that allowed the eusocial insects of later generations to become the closest to civilization apart from humans with their salt-like brains.

The advantage of this form of "simple computer" is its near-absolute sanity, which is undoubtedly the most suitable choice for various types of small eusocial insects.

But this behavior also has its disadvantages. Although the computer-like "brain" is absolutely rational, it is just a puppet of genes and cannot transcend it.

This also indirectly leads to a serious problem - they have no creativity and association!

Perhaps this is why eusocial insects have always been called "the non-human creatures closest to the feat of establishing 'civilization'", but they have been unable to establish a true eusocial civilization.

Absolute rationality means rigidity and rigid thinking, just like computers can never truly replace the human brain.

The lack of association and creativity made those primitive "super-individuals" never and could not imagine that the most common things around them and the smallest changes could become a weapon for victory.

Only genetic mutations can change their rigid thinking. That is to say, small-bodied organisms have shorter reproductive cycles and are more likely to accumulate benign mutations, which allows eusocial insects to flourish in later generations.

Perhaps we can introduce a concept of nothingness - soul, to describe the difference between them.

Now, the biggest difference between these colonies and later eusocial insects is not the instant sharing of consciousness, nor the ability to edit genes, but that they have a "soul."

Although he does not believe in the concept of soul, this is indeed the most suitable concept that Lin Yi can find to describe this phenomenon.

It is as if the fire of civilization has fallen into the boundless darkness, igniting the already weak foundation of "super-individual consciousness" and blooming into a dazzling flame!

From this moment on, the super-individual consciousness breaks away from the shackles of genes and becomes a true hive mind consciousness, and subsequently has the power to control genes.

Lin Yi only felt that if he and the other nests were created by something, then he and their creators would undoubtedly succeed. Created a perfect hive mind consciousness.

Fortunately, it was already night at this time. The body of a soldier slowly emerged from the water, and a pair of compound eyes looked at the stars in the sky. Lin Yi's thoughts couldn't help but wander.

The Mid-Ordovician meteor event, the Ordovician biological radiation, the original mother nest in the Dikla crater, and the superbody endowed with a "soul". Are all the secrets among the stars in the sky?

(End of this chapter)