The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 12 Exploring Motherland

With a thought, a giant insect even bigger than the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp swung five pairs of paddle-like paddling legs and a wide and flat fan-shaped tail, swam over the swaying clusters of sea ringworms, and dropped it again. A shadow.

Some characteristics of the feather-winged horseshoe crab can also be seen on the giant insect's body. But its broad body, fan-shaped tail without tail spines or arc-shaped depressions, and more developed paddle-like paddling feet make it look somewhat similar to the pterygoid horseshoe crabs of later Silurian periods.

But it also has characteristics that have never appeared in any plate-footed horseshoe crab. For example, there are three pairs of sickle limbs under the head that look like a miniature version of the feather-winged horseshoe crab, and they also have long whisker-like appendages hanging downward. If you say it, they are somewhat similar to the head appendages of the crab-body horseshoe crab, but they are similar to the head appendages of the crab-body horseshoe crab. Drooping whiskers, but no close relative has ever had a similar structure.

Needless to say, this "stitch monster" plate-footed horseshoe crab was naturally created by Lin Yi using the gene editing ability of the mother's nest.

On the surface, it uses more appendages realized through trilobite genes to specialize a total of five pairs of paddling legs and three pairs of feeding appendages. The feeding appendages are also equipped with the Poseidon Helmet Shrimp gene sequence. The acquired filter-feeding structure allows it to meet its nutrient needs by feeding on plankton.

And this is only a superficial change. Inside its body cavity, which is thicker than that of ordinary horseshoe crabs, Lin Yi also used gene editing methods to insert some previous gene fragments from cornerstones.

Although as a primitive cephalopod, Cornerstone does not possess many of the "black technologies" of later cephalopods, such as the ability to change color, eject ink, and the most developed brain among invertebrates.

But its genetic sequence still provided some practical fragments, allowing Lin Yi to create this giant insect.

The first is the cephalopod's water jet propulsion system. This structure consisting of a nozzle and a water bladder was installed by Lin Yi near the gills of the new template.

Because of its large size, the giant insect has a set of such water-jet propulsion systems on each side of its body, which cooperates with the paired gills on both sides. The flowing water allows the book gills to obtain oxygen in the water more efficiently.

At the same time, a few adjustments have been made to the structure of the book gills, allowing it to flap at a specific amplitude, further accelerating the speed at which the inhaled water is ejected and the duration of the water jet propulsion system. The principle is somewhat similar to the compressor structure of a jet engine. , but the burning process is missing.

Of course, Lin Yi did not miss another structure that together with the waterjet propulsion system constitutes the secret to the success of the Corner Stone, which is the air chamber in the hollow shell of the Corner Stone.

The structure of the air chamber is somewhat similar to the swim bladder of fish, but it is more complex. The air chambers are separated by diaphragms and connected by air pipes, allowing Anglestone to control the water injection or drainage into the shell to control the ups and downs.

This structure was completely retained by later generations of Nautilus, and bionics technology was also used in watertight compartments and submarine ballast tanks.

As an arthropod, it is somewhat difficult to embed the gene fragments related to the hornstone shell into the gene sequence, but Lin Yi found another way, using the sac-like structure in the body as the air chamber, and the modified book gills wrapped into the body as the diaphragm. This giant plate-footed horseshoe crab, which is as big as a Poseidon shrimp, can easily float in the water.

These two sets of structures from the corner stone give it the ability to theoretically travel far across the ocean and explore wider open seas.

In the vision, it will serve as the pioneer of the nest group to open up a wider territory, expanding the control scope of the Gu clan, that is, Lin Yi's consciousness, to more distant places. Therefore, the individuals produced using this new template are called pioneering mothers by Lin Yi. And the word "mother" explains the functions of other parts of its huge body.

In fact, Lin Yi wanted to directly embed the genetic sequence of the mother's nest directly into the gene sequence of the feather-winged horseshoe crab to create a mobile mother's nest.

However, the reverse integration of the mother's nest gene sequence was too advanced for his current gene editing capabilities. In the end, he had to adopt a compromise method, which was to completely integrate the gene sequences of the feather-winged horseshoe crab and the short-winged horseshoe crab into his body, and then strengthen it. Its reproductive structure allows the pioneering mother to lay eggs that can develop into worker and soldier flies.

Lin Yi inserted a parthenogenetic gene fragment into the mother's body in order to develop the mother. This fragment came from an unknown conodont. It is unknown what pressure made these tiny creatures make the decision to go against their ancestors. But for Lin Yi, this ability is just convenient for him to control individuals to directly "violate troops".

The gene fragment of the ovary comes from the Poseidon shrimp. These giant filter-feeding insects that use a reproduction strategy of winning by numbers have an astonishing amount of eggs, which is exactly what Lin Yi needs when he is preparing to launch an army.

At the same time, now, Gonghao and Binghao still have the ability that the original feather-winged horseshoe crabs once had, which is to pupate and dissolve their own structures to develop into a brand new mother nest. This means that as long as there is sufficient food, the pioneer mother can sow the "seeds" of the mother nest along the way.

At the same time, the same gene fragment is also present in the genetic sequence of the pioneer mother. When necessary, the huge body of the pioneer mother can also pupate itself and transform into a mother's nest.

And because there are sufficient nutrients before pupation, the mother nest will have a large body size that can directly produce adult soldiers and workers as soon as it emerges from the pupa, as well as a complete ringworm cluster structure.

Due to its huge size, the female pioneer is destined to be unable to directly produce adults through pupation by the mother nest like the previous feather-winged horseshoe crab template or short-winged horseshoe crab template, and can only be produced in the form of eggs.

Therefore, Lin Yi edited the size of its eggs to be that of a soldier, which is the size of an individual giant feather-winged horseshoe crab. It has an oval shape so that it can be produced from the holes on the surface of the mother's nest and have a certain size at birth.

At the same time, the exoskeleton of the pioneer mother also contains calcium, similar to the bone plates wrapped around the body of the armored fish and the tortoise shell of later generations, allowing its exoskeleton to grow with its body size without the need for frequent molting.

Finally, Lin Yi also edited a gene segment that increases the mother's growth rate so that it can grow up quickly.

Even so, it is only now that the first pioneer female has been fully matured. Today is the day it officially sets sail towards the unknown ocean.

For Lin Yi, this was probably a historic moment, marking the first time that the Hao people stepped out of the inner bay and warm shallow sea where they were born, and headed to the ocean to explore this unknown Ordovician ocean.

While thinking, the five pairs of wide and flat paddle-like paddling feet of the pioneer mother swung, and her huge body cut through the waves. Countless workers and soldiers followed closely behind, and figures of various sizes swam without looking back. After leaving the inner bay, carrying hope, we swam towards the deep blue ocean.

(End of this chapter)