Soon, almost every available sap-coated surface was covered. Smaller creatures filled in the tiny spaces between larger bugs. When larger bugs could no longer find a spot to eat, they began trying to dislodge the others. Bumping into them then pushing to try to slide them away from the rich food source.
"See," Rafael pointed to the insects, "The centipede things and the little white circular ones are actually helping each other. Together they grip more surface area and are harder to push away. They seem well-adapted to this kind of feeding. Which again is odd if nothing is eating or damaging the fronds. If the sap is such a rich source of nutrients, something should be trying to eat the fronds directly or at least cut them to access more sap."
