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The largest scorpion to walk the Earth was the size of a baseball bat
Researchers used CT scans and fossil fragments from three sites to show the 1-meter predator had scorpion anatomy, officials said.
- Researchers at London's Natural History Museum reclassified fossils of Praearcturus gigas as a giant scorpion, ending over 100 years of misidentification. The creature lived roughly 415 million years ago in what is now Great Britain.
- Lead study author Richard Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods, identified the reclassification based on the specimen's sternum. Its triangular structure with a central groove matched the well-preserved Silurian scorpion Eramoscorpius, providing definitive fossil evidence.
- Measuring roughly 3 feet long, P. gigas was a formidable predator with roughly 6-inch-long pincers, according to Flinders University's Russell Bicknell. Researchers hypothesize it led an amphibious lifestyle, feeding on primitive fish in ancient waters.
- Not all experts agree; Jason Dunlop of Berlin's Museum of Natural History noted key scorpion features like the tail sting remain absent from the specimen. He cautioned that incomplete fossils make definitive interpretation difficult.
- Elizabeth Dowding, chair of paleoenvironmental analysis at Friedrich-Alexander University, characterized the study as demonstrating revisionary science. She noted that re-examining existing fossils through consistent curiosity could potentially shift global understanding of this group's diversity.
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By Shraddha Chakradhar, CNN. Imagine a massive scorpion the size of a baseball bat moving among moss-covered rocks and large, tree-like structures before slithering into a nearby stream. That's how a team of scientists describes what the largest scorpion known to date would have looked like as it roamed its environment roughly 415 million years ago in what is now the United Kingdom. To arrive at this fascinating new interpretation, experts revie…
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources26
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center12Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
L 22%
C 67%
11%
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