As ferocious insects in the water, dragon lice have evolved a unique hunting method that is ferocious and efficient.
Dragon lice are very good at camouflage. With their flat bodies and large compound eyes, they look very much like vegetarian water turtle shells and are as harmless as possible. However, these insects with deceptive appearance will hide among the lush aquatic plants or cover themselves with sand. Once something prey appears, they will rush out with lightning speed to complete the hunt.
Although the jaws of dragon lice are small, they are very powerful. Once they catch their prey, they can effortlessly bite through the hard shells of other insects.
Dragon lice can also be described as lions among aquatic insects. They will even attack prey much larger than themselves in groups. The dragon louse eats erratically, often overeating, and is sometimes so stuffed that it cannot swim.
The front and middle legs of the dragon louse have been specialized and become relatively short. Normally, the front and middle legs are retracted under the body. Once prey is found, it will shoot out like a switchblade to hook the prey. In order to make it easier for the male to hold the female during mating, some species of dragon lice have even evolved suckers on their front legs to enhance their adsorption force.
As one of the few aquatic beetles, the hind legs of dragon lice have evolved into gliding oars. Their hind legs are covered with long hairs, allowing the dragon lice to swim quickly. At the same time, their entire body has developed into a streamlined shape, and their exoskeleton is quite smooth, which can minimize the resistance to forward movement.
The hind legs of dragon lice are not just weapons for swimming. There are sharp serrated structures on the inside, like two daggers. When they are caught, the hind legs become tools for escape.
The above characteristics make dragon lice a terrifying killing machine and the overlord of the water. The protagonist was finally able to witness the heroic appearance of dragon lice hunting by this waterhole.
This pool is very clear, with no aquatic plants, and you can see the bottom at a glance. I saw dragon lice lurking quietly under the sand very close to the shore, with only their round back shells covered with gravel showing. If the protagonist hadn't had good eyesight, he would have been fooled by them.
At this time, a large group of locusts were surrounding the water pool, but they seemed to be aware of the threat in the water pool, so they hesitated and did not dare to approach.
However, the feeling of thirst soon overcame everything, and the locusts began to try to drink water. They would suddenly rush to the water's edge, take a sip or two and then immediately retreat, for fear of provoking some terrifying presence.
As long as one locust takes the lead, other locusts will also swarm up, drink a few mouthfuls of water and then trick them all into evacuating. A large group of locusts are drinking water like a guerrilla war.
The dragon lice remained motionless, as if they didn't notice the locusts' tricks at all.
Only when a locust loses its vigilance due to thirst, fatigue and laziness and starts drinking water for a long time, and this unlucky guy happens to be very close to the ambushing dragon louse, will the dragon louse take action.
I saw a piece of sand at the bottom of the water suddenly stirred, and the clear water surface became a little turbid for a short time.
At this moment, something unexpected happened. A closer look revealed that the dragon louse had caught its prey and dragged the locust into the water. The fate waiting for the locust is to drown, but before it is drowned, a large group of locusts have already surrounded it to bite and eat it, eating it alive.
In order to compete for food, dragon lice will also fight with each other. They fight with each other with their jaws, front feet and hind feet. This kind of fighting usually cannot damage the dragon louse's hard carapace. It just hopes to drive away the predator, but sometimes hitting the vital point can kill the other party.
Although predators try hard to protect their prey, most of the prey is often snatched away and eaten by swarms of similar species. But the hunter is not discouraged. The next time someone else succeeds in hunting, it will also join the team to grab food.
Sometimes the hunting is not very successful. Although the dragon louse bites the head of the locust, it fails to drag it into the water. The locust will use its well-developed legs to support itself and try to escape backward from the locust's attack.
Once the dragon louse leaves the water, it is like a tiger that has fallen into peace and is no longer a threat.
Therefore, the locust was paddling hard under the water, while the locust was jumping on the shore. The two sides were engaged in a tug-of-war about life and death. Contest
After watching the battle in the water pool, the protagonist knows that this is just an interlude. Although the dragon louse is powerful, its number is limited and cannot control the growth of such a large locust swarm.
The only thing we can rely on now, apart from the Divine Envoy King's army, are these iron worm eggs.
While most of the aquatic insects are attracted by dragon lice, even dragonfly larvae and water flies are trying to get a share of the pie and find some remains left by dragon lice to feed themselves. They all gather on the gentle slope of the pool. side.
The protagonist leads the worker ants from another steeper bank - it is too steep here, there are no locusts to drink water, and there are no insects gathering underwater - and they drop the ironworm eggs one after another.
In a matter of days, or even hours, these ironworm eggs will hatch into larvae as if they were on an accelerator.
Although some eggs and larvae will be eaten by other hungry and ferocious bugs, many iron worms will successfully enter the locusts' bodies as they drink water, parasitizing them, weakening them, eating them, and killing them.
The protagonist left, but in the next few days, groups of worker ants returned here every day. They brought the ironworm eggs and some locust corpses newly collected the day before, and continued to put them in.
Nowadays, the parasitized corpses of the prey hunted by the Angel King's army every day are no longer transported back to "Dongyang City", but are carried and thrown into the pool by the worker ants.
This will prompt the iron worms in the corpse to detect water and come out to mate and lay eggs, increasing the number of eggs laid and the survival rate.
The large number of locust carcasses dropped by the ants also feed the dragon lice and other insects in the water pool, reducing the possibility that they will eat the mating wireworms or eggs due to hunger.
But there are also some locust corpses that have not been thrown into the pool, and the iron worms inside can't wait to come out. These iron worms often don't live long, and the ants can only try to save their eggs.
Only locust corpses with flat abdomens and unparasitized bodies will be transported back to "Dongyang City" for food.
——I am the dividing line——
The protagonist has returned to "Dongyang City". With the large amount of ironworm eggs released, the Angel King Legion, which is still fighting at the "Transfer Station" for a week, reported back. They found that the number of locust swarms has been controlled, and hunting Among the locusts that arrived, the proportion that had been parasitized by wireworms increased rapidly. Sometimes, half of the locusts caught were parasitized.
This is a good sign. Although the locust swarm is still huge, the number is decreasing sharply, and the parasitized locusts cannot transform into terrifying migratory locusts. The protagonist's biological control tactics have been successful.
Now, he must once again withdraw his gaze from the south and look towards the north where the news came. If you want to chat about "The World of Ants" with more like-minded people, follow "Hot Web Articles or rd444" on WeChat to chat with more book friends about your favorite books
