Posted on 03/08/2006 1:17:15 PM PST by S0122017
Scorpion bigger than human described
Nov. 30, 2005 Courtesy Nature and World Science staff
A geologist working in Scotland has uncovered footprints that he says come from a fearsome water scorpion bigger than a human.
The Desert Hairy Scorpion Hadrurus arizonensis (Courtesy Imagers NASA Science Education)
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The tracks were made about 330 million years ago by a six-legged creature called Hibbertopterus, according to Martin Whyte of the University of Sheffield, U.K.
Hibbertopterus was some 1.6 metres (5¼ feet) long and a metre (3¼ feet) wide, he added.
The tracks show that this now-extinct group of animals, previously thought to dwell in water only, could also survive on land, according to Whyte.
At around the same time as the creature lived, scientists believe our own four-limbed ancestors were also making their first steps towards leaving the water and colonizing the land.
The six-metre-long trackway reveals strides that were 27 cm (11 inches) long, and also features a central groove left by the creature’s dragging tail, according to Whyte. This, he added, shows the creature was probably a very slow, lumbering beast when moving on land.
Whyte described the finding in the Dec. 1 issue of the research journal Nature.
(stareing open mouth at the screen for 2 minutes)
(finding voice)
You've got to be s****ng me!
That is one big bug. Bet it tasted like chicken.
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