EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Aerial agility- 4+1=5, Stinger-gun- 5+1=6, Swarm caste- 3
Waspsting slicers are a new breed of aerial predator. They can shoot silica shards from their neurotoxin jets, turning a weapon that only affects the already-injured into a lethal and terrifying weapon. They have also developed a neck, enabling them to aim better and fly better. Their wings are stronger and larger, and rounded similarly to a hawk's. They dominate the sky, although larger predators often compete with them.
Hives are still underwater-with-landing-pad, and the guidelings are all still relatively the same.
A dramatic change has happened to the environment. Where once there were algal plains, there are now hugely dense swamp forests. The trees have affected the environment by making it much more humid, and we now have to survive in a rainforest environment. The sky balloons are far more common with this torrential downpour, and the trees below have a purple tinge (from symbiotic algae) to help them absorb more light. This change in environment is generally bad for us, as it's harder to locate our hives and it's hard to get through the canopy. The guidelings' gliding skills mean that they're doing better than ever, however. Some new species are doing away with their slicers altogether, and/or vice versa.
GENERATION 20:
Waspsting slicer
A grey bird-like animal that hunts above the swampforest. They use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They mostly fly. They grow up to 40 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They use two claws on their back to snatch prey from the ground or air.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. Symbiotic guidelings help it find live prey. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations from moving creatures. Its hearing is superb, and it can echolocate.
REPRODUCTION: It 'kisses' a mate it approves of, passing male cells to it, and growths grow inside of the womb. Tentaclets follow their mother until they can be dropped off at their hive. They eat mucus that the hive creates and, when they are large enough, find a suitable guideling to make a nest with.
MOVEMENT: They fly by using their large pectoral fins as wings and their thorachic fins as engines. They have two legs on their underside.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the guts. They are able to prey on fast swimmers, and they use venom. Most of their food is from grazing worms and the dense vegetation. Other prey include land-dwelling spearfaced worms (slitherers) and other flappers. We can use a precise jet of neurotoxin, laced with silica shards (to pierce the skin), to kill prey.
PREDATION: We are mostly unpredated.
COMPETITION: Larger aerial predators sometimes compete with us, but we're generally fine.
ENVIRONMENT: A massive swampy forest, with torrential downpour and balloons filling the sky.
HOME TERRITORY: Swamp forest
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: Montane forest, saltwater swamp