Meter-long scorpion Praearcturus gigas was Britain’s top predator 415 million years ago

The useful part

University of Manchester Summary: A meter-long scorpion with massive pincers stalked ancient Britain 415 million years ago, long before forests and the better-known age of giant insects. Its surprising size and possible semi-aquatic lifestyle could reshape ideas about how early arthropods became giants. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email FULL STORY Life reconstruction of Praearcturus gigas.

How it works

• Instead, the researchers suggest that ecological opportunity may help explain the animal's extraordinary size.
• Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, and co-author of the study, said: "The boundary between land and sea was much less defined at this time.
• Praearcturus gives us a fascinating glimpse into how early animals adapted to these changing environments.
• The new interpretation became possible after researchers compared the historic specimens with better preserved fossils discovered more recently.
• The finding also demonstrates how older museum specimens can continue to produce major discoveries long after they were first collected.

What to take from it

That timing is important because Praearcturus lived before the high atmospheric oxygen levels associated with the later rise of forests. The animal, Praearcturus gigas, reached roughly one meter in length and carried pincers more than 16 centimeters long. Around 415 million years ago, it would have been an imposing predator in the floodplain environments of the Early Devonian.

Example or evidence

• Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was only just getting started.
• Russell Garwood, Paleontologist at The University of Manchester, added: " Praearcturus has puzzled us paleontologists for more than a century.
• "What makes Praearcturus so interesting is that it became enormous at a time when life on land was otherwise very small.
• To try and better understand this ancient world, we compared the size of fossil scorpions with other animals alive at the time.

Details worth keeping

"Confirming that this animal is a scorpion fundamentally changes our understanding of how and when these creatures evolved to such extraordinary sizes." The discovery pushes the story of giant arthropods much further back in time than the period usually associated with enormous insects and other invertebrates. It was a world that could somehow support a giant predator. To reach such extraordinary sizes, and conclude that perhaps it lived in water, where life was bigger." Why Did This Scorpion Grow So Large?

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