The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 74 Earth OL Test Server and Straight Shrimp
  Because there is really no difference between these single-celled algae from a macro perspective, only some of them are aggregated into clumps, and some differences can be seen.

What Lin Yi chose was a kind of algae that can aggregate into simple multi-cell clusters, let's call it coccophylla.

These algae are extremely adaptable and multiply rapidly, making them an excellent food source. According to the results of brood absorption, the protein content is not bad either.

And the characteristic of occasionally gathering into groups makes it not difficult to collect them. There are a certain number of them in this sea area. At this time, they were all collected by Lin Yi, waiting for the mother nest to develop a new structure.

However, the raising of these cocci, especially the accommodation during daily breeding and collection during harvest, is not that simple.

The structure that houses these nodules is modified from the vesicle-like structure of graptolite. In order to allow it to obtain enough light for photosynthesis, Lin Yi used a light-transmitting exoskeleton similar to the shell of a compound eye in the new structure.

At the same time, in order to take into account metabolic needs, these structures will be connected to the outside world through openings, and multiple tentacles similar to the Helino filter structure will be intercepted at the openings to prevent the single-cell algae inside from escaping with the water waves.

These structures were originally designed to filter plankton in the sea, but now they are used to filter phytoplankton and return to their original duties.

A water injection system is installed behind the bladder-like structure. When harvesting is needed, a large amount of water is quickly injected from the rear to flush the algae onto the filter structure, and most of the algae can be harvested.

A small number of fish that have not washed up the filter just skip the replenishment process and start multiplying again until the next harvest.

In the middle of such a circle, a transparent sac-like structure responsible for cultivating coccus is connected to the mother nest through a pipeline similar to the digestive tract to transport nutrients.

Eventually, the new structure resembles a graptolite without whiskers, but with a longer caudal peduncle connected to the mother's nest.

The first such structure has begun to proliferate, and a cluster of coccolithophores that have integrated into a multi-cellular structure has been wrapped inside.

Here, while Lin Yi was testing the new algae culture structure, he also discovered something interesting on the other side.

With a thought, his eyes focused on the vicinity of the Dikla Crater - yes, it was the Dikla Crater again. As the landing point for the main body of meteorites in the Middle Ordovician meteor event, this place is like the test server of Earth OL, and it never disappoints.

When Lin Yi was collecting algae, he also searched the Dikla crater. As a result, he discovered primitive semi-terrestrial plants along the river's confluence area!
  But this was not what surprised him the most. Later research has shown that moss did exist in some coastal areas during the Late Ordovician.

Although they have not completely escaped from the water source, they can also be regarded as the pioneers of landing. They gradually began to transform the land and laid the foundation for future generations of animals to land on the land.

What surprised Lin Yi the most was that apart from plants, there were actually some animals that left the ocean that gave birth to life and headed for the land!

The earliest known terrestrial animal was the breathworm, a myriapod arthropod similar to the later millipede. The period of its appearance was already in the Silurian period, which was still some time away from now.

What appeared in front of Lin Yi was not a similar creature, but an arthropod that still retained a large number of characteristics of aquatic creatures and did not seem to have left the ocean.

After thinking about it, Lin Yi remembered that this should be a type of creature called "straight shrimp". It is a distant relative of the later myriapods, the centipede millipede. Many fossil footprints have been found in shrimps. These footprint fossils were found on the coast from the Ordovician to the Triassic.

Later research speculated that they should be scavengers in the coastal intertidal zone, picking up animal carcasses washed ashore - another pure Jane Lakizd. At the same time, it may also climb ashore to avoid predators.

They are quite successful in this ecological niche. Being amphibious allows them to escape predators from both water and land, and the corpses of organisms washed ashore in the intertidal zone provide them with quite abundant food resources.

This allowed Orthoshrimp to even survive the annihilation at the end of the Permian and survive into the Triassic. It was not until the Carnian flood event that they became extinct due to changes in the marine environment.

At this time, these shrimps climbed onto the land with no food resources nearby and no predators chasing them!

Moreover, they seem to be a more aquatic type of shrimp, with a more bloated rear abdomen. When moving, they are dragged on the ground, leaving a trail behind them. Just like what those fossilized shrimp footprints showed in later generations.

This made Lin Yi couldn't help but be curious about the purpose of these shrimps landing on land. Thinking about this, he controlled the observation tool to continue to float up, and stuck his head out of the water to start studying.

I saw the opponent's appendages pulling on the ground, as if collecting the moss. Then, the jaw base structure opened and closed, swallowing the torn green moss.

Only then did Lin Yi understand that these shrimps were eating the moss that had just landed on land. Although the food resources are not as abundant as those obtained by directly picking up garbage and corpses, it is better to have enough food.

After a while, it seemed that the original gills were no longer moist, making it difficult for them to breathe. Some shrimps began to return to the water, swinging their appendages and swimming.

Perhaps there were not many of them and they mostly lived near the shore, so Lin Yi had not seen them. But now that he saw it, he had the idea of ​​capturing one and absorbing the genetic sequence.

Soon, under the control of Lin Yi, the nearest soldier came over swinging its tail and paddling feet. Its pair of well-developed compound eyes looked at the shrimps swimming in the water, and it fell into deep thought.

The amphibious nature of the Straw Shrimp makes it a bit troublesome to capture them purely by relying on their level in the water. Although the opponent's swimming speed is not very fast, they never leave the coast too far so that they can crawl away immediately after being attacked. Go to the coast.

However, these early Orthoshrimps did not seem to have evolved the ability to breathe on land, but could only breathe oxygen in the air for short periods of time while their gills remained moist.

This gave Lin Yi a way to capture them. They squat on the shore for a long time, waiting for these shrimps to be dehydrated and forced to return to the water to breathe, and then take the opportunity to capture them.

But then, after thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly discovered that even with the current genetic sequence of horseshoe crabs, he could still create a grade that could move ashore.

Thinking about it, with the attitude of giving it a try, he transferred his consciousness to the mother nest and started the development of a new level. But this time, he had only one purpose - to go ashore and have a look!

(End of this chapter)