The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 318 Unnatural Products

The analysis of those large organisms suspected to be eusocial first produced detailed results. The results pointed to by the gene sequences were indeed members of the class of dragons-order of theropods in the biological classification unit of Dikla Star proposed by Lin Yi, but from a genetic point of view, it is far from the theropod evolutionary branch on the surface.

Their body structure seemed to have undergone a series of specializations for the underground world environment, and the open-tube circulatory system that Lin Yi felt lacking in virtue and the enhanced acid blood were just one of them.

Needless to say, they have low-light night vision for the underground world. In addition, they have some infrared receptors on their heads similar to those of snakes on Earth. Their sense of smell and hearing are also not left behind, and their perception ability is incredibly strong.

In conjunction with this, they have a special gland at the end of their tail that secretes a liquid that is somewhat viscous and corrosive. When it comes into contact with the opponent's skin, it not only causes damage, but also leaves an obvious scent mark, allowing them to easily track their prey.

At the same time, the substance secreted from this gland also serves as a means of communication among their own kind - yes, this is indeed a true social creature, and it seems to have a special class dedicated to reproduction.

However, with a body size of this size, pheromone-like methods are ultimately somewhat inefficient. The real main means of communication among the same species is still the low-frequency sound waves emitted before, as well as various other special frequency sound waves.

But now, even if it was confirmed that a true social animal had appeared, it was not what really surprised Lin Yi. What really shocked him was not this true social animal, but the strange flying creatures that came later.

Among the genetic sequences of those strange flying creatures, apart from a part that is somewhat similar to the small flying dragons native to the planet Dikla, a considerable part of them seems to be somewhat close to another evolutionary branch of creatures - bony pods.

Among the three life planets with complex life forms that Lin Yi knows about, this life form only appeared briefly on Earth, and its representative species was studied by later generations. He has also seen the Tuli monster, a similar creature, with his own eyes, but it has never been found on Dikla. Instead, it has amazing diversity on another known life planet - the Ezki home planet!
The Ezki, including most of the large animals on the other planet, seem to be descendants of a bony pod evolutionary branch similar to the Tuli monster. On the alien planet, for unknown reasons, they replaced the vertebrate-like evolutionary branch and achieved amazing success.

The gene sequences of these strange flying creatures show that the six tentacles in front of their heads have special bones similar to the tail vertebrae of vertebrates. A pair of similar structures behind the head also contain bones.

They even have a certain degree of sociality. Although there is no complex class differentiation, the thin membrane connecting the pair of special tentacles behind the head is covered with luminous cell structures, which can achieve intraspecies communication through complex light signals.

At the same time, they also have good hearing and are extremely sensitive to the low-frequency sound waves emitted by large animals on the ground. Even the underlying logic in the genetic sequence that determines biological instincts will make them instinctively move towards the direction of such sounds.

This kind of cross-species tacit communication was obviously abnormal. In particular, Lin Yi soon discovered some details in the genetic sequence that were more wrong than the ordinary native creatures of Dikla Star.

If you simply compare the gene sequence with the native creatures of Dikla Star, you won't find anything special. But when Lin Yi found the gene sequence of the Ezki people, he found some amazing similarities in the gene sequence. Some of the details of the underlying structure expressed in the gene sequence of this strange flying creature are more similar to the gene sequence of the Ezki people than the native creatures of Dikla Star!
The most obvious thing is the pair of tentacles at the back of the head and the thin membrane structure between them that can emit complex light signals, which are extremely similar to the degenerate head appendages of the Ezki people that can emit light signals to assist in communication.

Considering the distance between the two planets and the time when the creatures were born, Lin Yi obviously didn't believe that there was natural species exchange between the two planets. A hypothesis that was once a joke came to his mind again.

That was a jokey speculation about the Tully Monster by later generations - that the Tully Monster and the Neyek worm, creatures that seemed to appear out of thin air in the evolutionary process, were the casual creations of aliens who released animals.

Lin Yi thought of this theory when he first encountered the Tuli monster and the Ezki people landing on Earth, but the genetic sequences of the Tuli monster itself and the Ezki people in the first two times showed that there was only some kind of cross-planetary convergent evolution between them, and they did not really have a direct relationship.

But this time, the situation is far different. There is definite evidence that this creature may have certain underlying similarities in genetic sequences with the Ezki people that cannot be explained by convergent evolution, as if this weird-looking stitched creature is indeed the product of multiple creatures stitched together.

Lin Yi once again thought of the unknown intervener who was closely related to his own birth. He thought that he had gradually gotten rid of the other party's shadow, but now, the existence that once caused the Middle Ordovician meteor event seemed to still be above all living beings, controlling everything from behind, bringing destruction or rebirth from time to time.

In any case, this creature is indeed not a completely natural product. As for whether it has any relationship with unknown interveners, Lin Yi does not know. But even if he makes the worst plan, he can't think of any possibility that he can survive from this horrible existence.

Therefore, for now, he can only take one step at a time and stop thinking about these things. He should concentrate on studying everything at the moment - everything that happened in the underground world of Dikla Star might also be a breakthrough, allowing him to better understand some of the situations.

At this point, Lin Yi is not prepared to give up on the mother nest in the radiation zone of this underground world. Instead, he is preparing to further strengthen it and apply some new technologies. Both production and armament need to develop rapidly.

Since the complete destruction of the terrestrial arthropod nests and those special fungi, land wars on the planet have not been launched for a long time. After the brief exchange of fire with the rebels of the Ezki exploration fleet, he also had many ideas, but after the focus of development was shifted to space, they no longer had any place to use them.

The underground world of Dikla Star seemed to have given Lin Yi a big surprise, or a shock. But no matter what, he had to find a way to strengthen his own strength as much as possible, even if it was still a drop in the bucket. In-depth research here was one of the ways.

(End of this chapter)