The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 187 Investigation Level

Although the Kuai-Wing Diver has excellent speed and is suitable for large-scale searches, it has a fatal flaw, that is, it cannot land anywhere. It can only be searched roughly in a large area from the air.

In the past, the main mission of the reconnaissance-type Kuai-Wing Diver was to search for the mound groups of hostile terrestrial arthropod nests, which were quite conspicuous landmarks even in the air, so they were sufficient.

But now, to detect the movements of some details, level individuals need to have the ability to take off and land vertically anywhere, and move around on the ground to find clues to the details. The Kingwing Diver is obviously not up to the task.

To this end, Lin Yi needs to develop a new, dedicated reconnaissance and exploration level for land and air use, specifically responsible for searching for various traces.

Different requirements directly determine that the design concept of the new grade will be different from all current grades.

Like the eusocial insects of later generations, the combat level pursues extreme specialization. Even if it sacrifices the ability to eat independently, it must improve the three key indicators of attack, speed and defense as much as possible.

The new level will be a comprehensive multi-functional reconnaissance level, which means that it will often need to go deep into various harsh environments without the cooperation of other levels of individuals, which requires it to have strong self-care ability and Adaptability.

In other words, the indicators that the new level needs to achieve are closer to the enhanced version of ordinary solitary non-social creatures than to the level individuals of the nest group.

This makes the new grade not have any highly specialized appearance and structure, making it look a bit unpretentious - of course, relatively speaking.

The size of the new class is tentatively set at two to three meters, slightly larger than the Saw Ant, allowing them to defeat the apex predators of this era - or at least give the opponent a hard time. And retreat.

The top predators of the Synapsid class in this era are probably of this size. To ensure that everything is foolproof, we need to make a fuss about other structures of the new level.

A structure that does not affect normal production and life and has strong combat effectiveness. After thinking about it, Lin Yi thought of the mantis of later generations - to be precise, the mantis in people's stereotypes.

Among the various vertebrates of later generations, those with well-developed clawed forelimbs were mostly vegetarians, and few relied on their front paws to hunt. Even the most specialized macroraptors only use their forelimbs as an auxiliary means.

Moreover, the pair of seemingly powerful catching legs actually have a relatively limited range of movement. Their main function is to clamp and control prey. The real main output method is the chewing mouthparts wrapped by the upper lip structure.

In reality, although mantises also have strong combat capabilities, they are also highly dependent on the environment - they are mostly ambush hunters, and they often hang upside down on tree branches and other locations to ambush.

However, Lin Yi had previous experience in designing the claw limbs of the saw-toothed saw ant, so it was not difficult to actually design the structure that the new grade would have, similar to the mantis's catching foot, into the stereotyped structure of wielding and chopping like a knife in future generations.

The most critical issues here are: first, strengthening the forelimbs is not as cost-effective as strengthening the jaws; second, the flexibility of the shoulder joint is a fatal point.

The shoulder joints and attached muscle structures of most vertebrates do not support a wide range of forelimb swings, even in Homo erectus and Neanderthals, who are closely related to later humans.

But the appendage structure of arthropods is actually better. The existence of the swivel joint allows the femoral joint, tibia joint and tarsal joint at the rear to be more flexible and can swing at a larger angle. Moreover, Lin Yi also absorbed the genetic sequences of Anomalocaris and large appendages. Their appendages were formed first and then became arthropodized, so their flexibility was actually better than that of later arthropods.

Taken together, the pair of forelimbs of the new class have flexibility that is no less than that of later generations of human arms, and can carry out various attack movements in a wide range.

Another difference from the mantis is that the new grade's tarsus is also completely bladed, and the entire forelimb no longer supports the ground, but is usually completely tucked in front of the body.

Because of this, Lin Yi felt that it would be a waste if these appendages were only used as weapons. After thinking about it, he suddenly had a bold idea.

Thinking about it, he immediately began to edit the gene sequence and made a small improvement at the end of the tibia.

That is, adding a few structures similar to tarsal claws between the tibia and the bladed tarsus to achieve an ability that will almost determine the establishment of civilization in later generations - confrontation!

To this end, Lin Yi made fine adjustments to the new-level forelimb structure. The lower part of the tibia protrudes outward in a semicircular shape, while the entire tarsus is bent into an arc shape, which can be folded up perfectly, exposing the front end of the tibia. Special finger claw structure.

There are three finger claws in total, which have joints and can also move quite flexibly. Together with the flexible swivel-joints, they are flexible enough to complete various tasks.

Although Lin Yi, who has realized genetic language, does not need to develop technology, when he goes deep into the wilderness alone to conduct reconnaissance missions, a pair of flexible appendages may have an unexpected effect.

Next, there are other less important structures.

Because the function of the new level is different from all the previous levels, the basic operation of cutting down the digestive system in case of trouble becomes a fatal flaw in the new level.

The new grade not only has a complete digestive system, but also has the ability to dissolve prey carcasses at the cellular level, similar to the mother's nest, which allows it to digest some things that are difficult for ordinary grades to digest, such as plants.

This kind of digestive system ensures strong digestive capacity while taking up little space, allowing the new grade to easily digest various plants without complicated chewing or cumbersome operations such as swallowing stomach stones and chewing cud.

Moreover, at a critical moment, the structure in the body can be controlled by Lin Yi to allow the new level of self to completely dissolve from the inside out, destroying the body and leaving no traces, leaving no trace in the event of an accident.

In order to match this structure, the mouthparts and mandibles of the new grade are also quite developed. On the triangular head, which is also similar to a mantis, between a pair of upper lips are a well-developed mandible and a pair of auxiliary claws that are close to the bottom of the mouthparts. limb.

This allows the new level to efficiently eat a variety of foods, survive in any environment, and send intelligence information back to the nest.

The last thing left is the new-level walking legs and membrane wing structures responsible for maneuvering, and most importantly, the detection structure for detecting the surrounding environment. Lin Yi already had an idea for all this and was just waiting for the final implementation.

(End of this chapter)