The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 176 The funeral of the Anomalocaris nest (2)

After an unknown amount of time, the life of the last "Schendehans shrimp" finally came to an end.

As if it senses that the end is coming, it swings its tail leaves. Slowly swimming towards the nearest worker, a pair of appendages carved into the sand of the river bed.

The first picture shows the water and the stars in the sky above it. Below, on the water, is the scene of a three-eyed Hed shrimp with half its head sticking out of the water and looking up at the sky.

The second picture that followed was particularly difficult to draw - a crooked oval, with two small circles and two short curved lines added to the front end of the oval, with some line-like structures on the sides, and the tail end. It ends with a triangle.

It was an image of an anomaly, and it was exactly the same as what Lin Yi had originally carved on the exoskeleton.

After painting the last stroke, the last trace of luster in the compound eyes of the "Schendehans shrimp" slowly dimmed, the swimming leaves slowly stopped swinging, and the body sank feebly toward the river bed.

The claws of the Gonghao slowly lifted up the lifeless body of the "Shindehans Shrimp". It swung its paddling feet and slowly floated to the surface of the water. Drops of water fell from the exoskeleton around the compound eyes, as if they were dropped by the Gonghao. tears.

The reality is that the compound eye structure of arthropods is destined to be impossible to have lacrimal glands or similar structures, just like Lin Yi's current situation.

Now, what lies before the nest is a more serious issue that can even determine life and death. He didn't have much time to weep over the demise of the Anomalocaris nest.

Yes, there has never been such a thing as Schendelian shrimp. The predatory Herd shrimp fell at the gate of the Ordovician together with the orthodox Anomalocaris as early as the end of the Cambrian.

Lin Yi has read the genetic sequences of Schendhans shrimp and Herder shrimp, and they do not have any reproductive ability. When they also die naturally over time, there will be no more shooting teeth in the world.

On the shore, two land workers have taken over the remains of the "Shenderhans shrimp" and slowly put it into a hole that the diggers have dug. At this moment, Lin Yi seemed to understand something.

And these Herder shrimps that look like Schindelhans shrimp are not similar in appearance, but are actually the so-called Schindelhans shrimp. The pyrite fossil miraculously unearthed in later generations may have been buried by Lin Yi himself.

In his consciousness, the previous scene of the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp raising its appendages as it was dying, as if it wanted to touch the stars in the sky, resurfaced.

The fossils of post-Cambrian predatory dinosaur shrimps discovered in later generations, whether they are the undetermined predatory shrimp Hederi shrimp from the Early Ordovician or the Schendhans shrimp that miraculously appeared in the Early Devonian, are all strange. The hierarchical individual of the shrimp nest group.

As for why it appeared in the Early Devonian instead of the Silurian strata, it may be due to stratigraphic changes, or it may be an error in later research and judgment, Lin Yi has no idea.

But now, with the disappearance of the anomalocaridid ​​nests, the radiodonts, this legendary group that originally stood on the top of the sea, has finally been lost in the long river of history.

Lin Yi felt a little unhappy. After all, they failed to reach the starry sky they longed for.

Thinking of this, he decided to do one last thing for this nest group that he had fought side by side with.

Lin Yi had not controlled the carcass of the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp to be absorbed by the mother's nest, but was trying to preserve it. At this time, it was slowly lifted out of the preservation place by land workers and placed into a hole in an object similar to the mother's nest. . But it is not a mother's nest. This hole-like structure is not a device for absorbing the flesh and blood of living things - a large amount of translucent viscous liquid is secreted out, covering the entire body of the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp.

This is an improved formula of the viscous liquid used by those wingless cockroaches to stick to the mounds. After adjusting the proportions and ingredients, Lin Yi developed a liquid that solidifies like amber or glue.

Use this liquid to seal the entire body of the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp in it, and carry it with you. If you really have a chance to touch the starry sky in the future, you will carry the body of the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp with you.

Putting on its compound eyes and helping it reach the stars was the last thing Lin Yi could do for this nest group that he had fought side by side with.

The liquid wrapped around the side of the three-eyed Schendhans shrimp has begun to solidify, and several special land workers come forward. Their chelicerae structure has a rough and uneven wide surface, somewhat similar to sandpaper or a file.

When the liquid completely solidified, these polishers rushed forward and polished the surface with their claws, allowing the three-eyed Shendhans shrimp sealed below to appear.

The refraction of light makes the three compound eyes of the three-eyed Schendhans shrimp once again show a faint luster, as if it is alive again.

In a sense, this three-eyed Schndelhans shrimp has been immortalized in amber. Just like the nest of strange shrimps, it will live in Lin Yi's heart forever.

At the same time, Lin Yi's perspective turned to the river again. An object with an oval cross-section was still standing diagonally in the turbid river water - it was the last mother nest of the Anomalocaris nest group.

At this time, the Schendhans shrimp and the Herder shrimp were still loyally guarding the mother nest, driving away all approaching creatures, including the previous workers, without the slightest idea that they were genetically designed to protect the object. It no longer exists, but it still guards the soulless body of the brood.

As a last resort, Lin Yi had no choice but to control a large number of soldiers to move forward, spreading their sickle limbs wide, trying to drive away these Pseudognathus Hedera and Shendhans shrimps.

But even in the face of the ferocious sickle limbs of the soldiers, these pseudognathus shrimps still open their upper and lower jaw structures composed of head shells and appendages, and do not give up an inch to protect the body of the mother nest behind them.

Lin Yi couldn't bear to do anything to the remnants of these strange shrimp nests, so he had to retreat temporarily, observing the mother's nest that still maintained life activities from a distance, and fell into deep thought.

Looking at the last remnants of the strange shrimp nest, Lin Yi felt a last glimmer of hope in his heart.

Since there is no complex macroscopic structure, the life of the brood is theoretically unlimited. So if this mother nest is left and continues to provide food for it, and waits until Lin Yi has enough gene editing capabilities to crack the genetic virus of the original mother nest, and then modifies it, will it be possible to destroy the Anomalocaris nest group? Rescue?

Once this bold idea emerged, it lingered in Lin Yi's consciousness.

Although there is no evidence that the mother nest can store memories, and even if it can, it is difficult to explain whether another individual that inherits the memory can be regarded as the previous individual.

But as long as there is a glimmer of hope, this plan is worth a try.

(End of this chapter)