The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 283 Featherscale Flying Dragon
On the surface of the earth, an astonishingly tall figure is slowly standing up with the help of a large number of appendage-like structures - it is a Cornerstone II, a heavy-duty biological launch vehicle that was once tasked with transporting carpet structures to Mars.

At this time, the payload part of the Cornerstone II type had gone through a complex series of changes, and a life-support system that was not very useful for the current level of the nest was specially installed. After testing, it was successfully A two-fold horseshoe crab captured as a young man was transported to low-Earth orbit.

This means that the next task will not be difficult - a special payload has been stuffed into its carrier compartment under the preparation of the workers, and the final launch inspection has been completed.

After a familiar ignition and launch, the huge body rose up from the ground driven by the rocket engine, straight into the sky, followed by the same skillful separation and acceleration, and soon broke through the atmosphere and entered the synchronous orbit.

Subsequently, the thrusters were turned off, and the final payload part was easily parked in the synchronous orbit, running at a speed synchronous with the rotation of the earth at the balance point of gravity and centrifugal force.

Near the orbit, a special pioneering star has been waiting there for a long time. The nozzle structure at the tail ejects blazing high-temperature plasma, pushing the body slowly closer to the part of the payload sent to the orbit.

A pair of special long chelicerae protruded from the broad abdomen of the Kaixin Xinghao based on the crab body of the horseshoe crab, slowly clamped the small payload part, and then retracted it into the abdominal compartment.

Part of the body tissue began to pupate, and this structure was integrated with itself. The circulatory system of the pioneering star began to continuously deliver oxygen and circulating nutrients to it to maintain the operation of its life-support system for a long time.

Nearby, a small number of escort stars were guarding the pioneer star, escorting it. Then, under the control of a large number of nozzles, this smaller star formed a star that was somewhat similar to the Ezki exploration fleet. The horde turned around and headed towards Tianyuan Si.

Tianyuan Four, the living planet.

After determining the environment of the ocean, Lin Yi still controlled a large number of shadowflies and other grade individuals to scout around on land, looking for some interesting creatures. Therefore, he deliberately controlled the shadowflies to fly towards some resource-rich areas.

For example, in front of the compound eye, a large number of migratory locusts gathered into a dense, black cloud-like swarm. The sound of flapping wings echoed, and the dense figures seemed to block out the sky. It would definitely be a huge locust plague that has been rare to see on the earth in countless years. , but here, it is a normal phenomenon that happens all the time.

At present, more sample analysis results show that the ecology of Alien, which relies on a large number of flying insects instead of traditional herbivores as the base of the food chain, is caused by a combination of reasons.

Part of the reason is that Lin Yi had previously speculated that large animals could not keep up with the evolution of plants and were gradually unable to digest increasingly strong plant fibers. The other part was that the planet did have frequent small-scale meteorite impacts, so flying insects Group-dominated ecosystems are more stable and adaptable to frequently changing environments.

Therefore, there are almost no mainstream herbivores except for the large animals with long forelimbs and necks that Lin Yi discovered before, some similar to sauropod dinosaurs, and they also exist as a marginalized species.

On both sides of the dense swarm of migratory locusts, a large number of small flying dragons flew past, and from time to time they picked up two locusts and swallowed them. Some of the larger flying dragons joined in the feast of predatory locusts, and some directly killed the small flying dragons on the side. But all this is not the focus of Lin Yi's concern - in the field of vision, a shadow is cast, and the long and narrow wings are immediately reflected in the compound eyes. Immediately, an astonishingly huge body quickly flies over the locust swarm, with a wingspan of two feet. It is more than ten meters long, far larger than the Nod's Aeolian Pterosaur. It is a well-deserved flying giant beast.

Lin Yi was sure that this was the giant shadow that flashed across his compound eyes during the landing stage of the airdrop bag. And even though he had already seen this creature with an astonishing size compared to normal creatures, the ecological niche of this thing was still far beyond Lin Yi's expectation.

The figure lowered its head and opened its lower jaw widely - its lower jaw could even be separated from the middle like a snake - and then, it seemed as if the huge throat sac of a pelican on the earth was opened by the air flow, like a huge net, snatching away the swarm of locusts. Pass.

A large number of migratory locusts were picked up by it, and then it closed its mandibles and swallowed them into its mouth. There was a squirming movement in the neck, and when it opened its lower jaw again, there was nothing in its mouth. Then, it repeated its old trick and flew past again, repeatedly swallowing a large number of locusts into its belly.

Giant aerial filter feeders. This is a form of existence that is unimaginable on earth. The abundant swarms of migratory locusts on alien planets make their existence possible. This large flying dragon with a pelican-like head, slightly swept back narrow wings, and a tail that seems to be composed of feather scales is probably a strange sight on this planet.

However, just when Lin Yi thought that such a creature would probably have no natural enemies as an adult on this planet, and was about to control the shadowflies to find an opportunity to obtain the genetic sequence, an accident happened.

An equally large figure slowly walked out of the forest nearby. Its figure did not look like the flying dragon that had appeared before, but rather looked like a medium-sized theropod dinosaur enlarged to the same proportion.

At first glance, its general appearance resembles that of a macroraptor, and on its back, some feather scale structures are gathered behind it like peacock feathers. At this time, as the body walks into the open space, it slowly unfolds, revealing seven pairs of slender feather scale wings. .

Immediately, among the seven pairs of feather scale wings, the first four pairs and the last three pairs closed together to form two pairs of relatively wide feather scale wings, which began to flap driven by the muscle tissue, driving the huge body to slowly take off.

At this time, Lin Yi could see clearly that the creature's front and rear limbs were equipped with huge and ferocious hook-like claws. The claws on the forelimbs could even be held like a raptor, making it look very intimidating.

And its head slowly turned, its eyes looked at the huge flying dragon that was still devouring locusts in mid-air, and there was a hint of ferocity in its eyes - there was no doubt that it was about to prey on that huge flying dragon.

Seeing this scene, the Shadowfly retracted its slightly extended bladed appendage again, and its body also retreated slightly - instead of taking action directly, it would be better to watch the show on the spot and see if it can be an oriole for a while. , kill them all to extract the gene sequence.

The feather-scale wings of this "Feather-scale Flying Dragon" seemed a little special. Lin Yi felt that its structure might inspire some special structures of the nest. Therefore, he specially controlled several other nearby shadow flies to slowly move towards it. Get close here and get ready to tackle it.

(End of this chapter)