Evolution & Human Origins

A fossil that had long been housed in the British Museum collections has been recognized as that of the world's largest true scorpion. The fossilized remains belong to a creature called Praearcturus gigas, defined as a creature that could reach a length of about a meter (3.3 feet) with pincers measuring more than 16 centimeters (6.3 inches). It lived about 415 million years ago, i.e. at a time when complex, multicellular life forms were only starting to evolve in land environments. The finding adds a formidable new predator to the story of scorpions among the first animals to venture onto land. A Museum Puzzle Finally Solved The open-access Palaeontology paper reassesses fragmentary specimens from the St Maughan's Formation in England