The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 343 Alien Nest?

Dikla Star.

In the vision of the ancient web-winged flying insect, strings of data were presented on the screen in front of it, allowing intuitive comparisons from multiple angles - some of them were from those strange tentacle samples from the underground world, while others were the first time Lin Yi had seen them.

"Are these what you encountered on Colony Planet No. 7?"

The analysis of the structures in the underground world did yield surprising results - the huge tentacle in the center of the cave seemed to have a much larger structure than that, but was actually part of a rather large organism, or in other words, it was really just an extended tentacle.

Its main structure, as speculated based on the current gene sequence, is shockingly deformed, and it is likely to directly use various structures to span multiple radiation zones, making it a true super creature.

Its main body is most likely located in a larger radiation zone, and radiates a large number of tentacles, roots or similar structures in all directions, connecting a large number of radiation zones, and extending some auxiliary tissues in each occupied radiation zone.

In this radiation zone, the huge tentacles and a series of strange biological structures around them are all considered its extended organizations here, and the overall control of this area is assisted by a large brain-like ganglion organization in an underground location.

But this is not the key point. The most important thing is that Lin Yi surprisingly analyzed a structure similar to spatial synapse in the opponent's genetic sequence!
From a structural point of view, this set of spatial synapses seems to be slightly different from all the nests that have ever appeared on Earth, including Lin Yi's own, but the difference is almost negligible. If you have to say, it seems that the structure discovered on Dixla is a more primitive version.

However, there are still many problems here - for example, since the other party has spatial synapses, why not separate the tentacles and supporting tissues in different places into different individuals, but instead adopt this physical connection method?

Even when he was still fighting wits and courage with the terrestrial arthropod nests, Lin Yi had already been developing a combination of parasitic or symbiotic levels with multiple sets of spatial synapse-based nervous systems as the core, but with a shared circulatory system.

For some individuals of astonishingly huge size, the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of using traditional neural signals in all senses are not as good as the complex control system composed of multiple neural systems based on spatial synapses.

In particular, although the absolute size of this giant individual is currently unknown, the length of these tentacles alone is definitely far beyond the body length of any type of star scorpion, and they radiate in all directions. The required nerve conduction distance must be astonishing.

The traditional nervous system certainly cannot achieve this goal. This special long-distance nerve conduction system is not difficult for Lin Yi. However, because the spatial synapse is so easy to use, there is no demand for it at present.

As for why the other party abandoned the spatial synaptic structure and turned to use such a traditional nervous system, it is somewhat unknown. However, the raider dragon and the seeker seem to explain all this in a sense.

The Raider is a traditional eusocial species, it is just controlled by the other party, and the Seeker is just an ordinary social creature. If it is released normally and lives alone away from the group, it can survive.

Abandoning the efficient spatial synaptic neural structure and using any traditional signal communication means as a means of controlling grade individuals is not without precedent. Lin Yi has even encountered it before. The former Anomalocaris nest group was infected by the special gene level of the original mother nest and could not produce normal individuals with spatial synapses. It was on the verge of extinction. Before meeting Lin Yi again, only two individuals with spatial synapses were left.

If it is said that this individual living on the planet Dikla, whose existence form is similar to that of a nest, has also had a similar experience, it is just that when it suffered this kind of blow, it already possessed an astonishingly large ability, which can simultaneously preserve consciousness and edit gene sequences, and is almost immortal.

However, this involves another problem - there are no traces of other nests on Dikla, no signs of their existence either on the ground or on the surface. If this is really a Dikla version of the nest, there is ample opportunity for expansion.

They also left no trace of their existence - they had no need to completely destroy the bodies, and it was impossible for them to do it as thoroughly as Lin Yi did, so they would definitely leave some traces of various kinds.

As early as when he landed on Dikla and began to explore the surface, Lin Yi used special-grade individuals to investigate the shallow strata of Dikla, looking for some fossils of extinct creatures on Dikla, in order to find more inspiration, etc.

There is a certain chance that fossils may contain partial genetic sequences that can be extracted. If you are lucky, it is not impossible to find blood-sucking flies that have sucked the body fluids of extinct organisms in amber, as shown in some classic film and television works of later generations.

As for the issue of the half-life of the gene chain, Nest's current gene editing capabilities and computing power are sufficient to piece together the astonishing number of base pairs one by one to form a complete gene sequence for further analysis.

However, a series of investigations on the ground and shallow strata have shown that there are no structures that meet the level of specialization of eusocial organisms, or any biological individuals that directly preserve evidence of spatial synapses, proving that the other party does not seem to have experienced prosperity.

This is certainly impossible for a colony, which is roughly equivalent to a population of super-eusocial organisms that is incredibly complex and has none of the defects of traditional eusocial organisms.

The results of later studies have shown that in an overall stable ecological environment, various eusocial insects have overwhelming advantages over solitary insects. If the nests are upgraded in all aspects on this basis, the gap between ordinary creatures and them can only be even more terrifying.

It can even be said that a flourishing colony can completely replace the ecology of a living planet with its massive amount of species, occupying all ecological niches and leaving no living space for other organisms.

After all, if the final winner of the hive arms race on Earth is not Lin Yi, but any "wild" hive, I am afraid that the end of the Earth will be the same, becoming an overall ecosystem composed of a single hive.

But today, the creatures on Dikla still maintain considerable diversity, which does not seem to be the result of the survivors prospering again after the demise of the colony.

But now, if the speculation of the remnants of Ezki's exploration fleet is correct, it would provide a perfect explanation for this phenomenon - what if the other party was not born and raised here, but appeared on Dikla Star for some reason?
(End of this chapter)