RE: [sg] platoon stuff and combat engineers

G'day,

>>How about something that attaches itself to metal with
>>a super adhesive with a cacoon made from a single
>>carbon fiber molecule?  It's a wasp analog that preys
>>on titanium shelled snails.  It not only gums up the
>>works but can bore 1/4 inch through any known alloy...
> 
> And this evolved how?

After the last major comet collision the major herbivore niche was
empty,
this allowed the shallow swamp dwelling snails to push further on land.
As
they did this the developed desiccation resistant shells and egg
coatings
(actually it was the other way round but there were no biologists there
to
jot that down, but it has kept great swaths of academia locked in
perpetual
uproar for a good part of 70 years now... 4 million years after the
event).
The expansion in snail folivores meant that there was a large pool of
unused
biomass allowing for the detritus feeding microwasps to extend their
nursery
sites (they lay their eggs in their larvae's future prey) and increase
in
size and brood size. Unfortunately as the wasps got more aggressive and
wide
spread the snails needed thicker shells. They found the most efficient
way
was to incorporate undigested and chemically processed ore particles
into
the quinpartite structure of their shell matrix. The resulting history
of
coevolution leaves us with the metali-snails and their oviparasitic
wasps on
the tray in front of you. Have fun in the dissection and watch out not
to
get any of the attachment sack on your fingers... or you'll find
yourself
intimately attached to your dinner tray when you get to the dorms
tonight....

;)