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Scorpion bigger than human described
world-science-news ^ | Nov. 30, 2005

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.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: crevolist; fossils; hereiam; rockmelikeahurricane
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To: satchmodog9

Post a picture of Chester Carville......snake-eyes.


21 posted on 03/08/2006 1:24:55 PM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN (Toon Town, Iran...........where reality is the real fantasy.)
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To: weegee
Or this?

-PJ

22 posted on 03/08/2006 1:25:37 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)
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To: mlc9852
I'm curious as to how they arrived at 330 million years ago.

Fossil was found in rock strata 330 million years old.

In non-scientific articles about science you're not going to get a 10 page long description of how every date in the article was arrived at citing every source and technique used, just as in every newspaper article about some criminal convicted with DNA you're not going to get a 10 page long blow-by-blow description of how the DNA test was done.

23 posted on 03/08/2006 1:26:28 PM PST by Strategerist
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To: S0122017

"Scorpion bigger than human described "

I saw that movie in the 60's. Next they will find a Praying Mantis bigger than a DC-9. I saw that one too. Everything I needed to learn about paleontology I learned from monster movies.


24 posted on 03/08/2006 1:26:36 PM PST by BadAndy (I miss the days when people didn't celebrate their perversions.)
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To: RockinRight

LOL, rock me like a hurricane.

I never knew that the singer was so tiny!


25 posted on 03/08/2006 1:27:22 PM PST by dinoparty
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To: S0122017

The Smithsonian used to have a partial fossil of a sea scorpion that measured some two meters from head to tail.


26 posted on 03/08/2006 1:27:49 PM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: dinoparty

He's apparently about the same height as Ronnie James Dio.


27 posted on 03/08/2006 1:28:18 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: S0122017
The tracks show that this thought to be extinct group of animals, previously thought to dwell in water only, could also survive on land, according to Whyte. They survive today, principally as officers in The National Organization for Women...
28 posted on 03/08/2006 1:29:03 PM PST by pabianice (contact ebay??)
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To: S0122017

Man, what a set of stingers!

29 posted on 03/08/2006 1:29:26 PM PST by OB1kNOb (America is the land of the free BECAUSE of the BRAVE !!)
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To: S0122017
"The tracks were made about 330 million years ago..."

Thank God for small favors.

30 posted on 03/08/2006 1:29:54 PM PST by Sam Cree (absolute reality) - ("Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein)
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To: Junior

There are also crabs of a meter wide, saw one in preservatives. Must make great pets.


31 posted on 03/08/2006 1:31:23 PM PST by S0122017
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To: satchmodog9
Talking about ugly!


32 posted on 03/08/2006 1:32:15 PM PST by Lady Jag ( All I want is a kind word, a warm bed, and world domination)
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To: Strategerist

A simple mention of the type of dating would have been sufficient.


33 posted on 03/08/2006 1:34:12 PM PST by mlc9852
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To: S0122017
I know scorpions are not insects but arachnids. However don't they have a size limit because of how they breath?
34 posted on 03/08/2006 1:34:14 PM PST by nomorelurker (wetraginhell)
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To: S0122017
I saw Harry Hamlin fighting some of these things back in the 80's!!!
35 posted on 03/08/2006 1:34:15 PM PST by Gator101
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To: mlc9852

"I'm curious as to how they arrived at 330 million years ago."

A guide at a museum was showing tourists a fossil she claimed was 500,011 years old. Someone asked how they could date it so accurately? The guide replied that 11 years ago they were told it was 500,000 years old. :-}


36 posted on 03/08/2006 1:36:42 PM PST by BadAndy (I miss the days when people didn't celebrate their perversions.)
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To: S0122017; weegee; RockinRight

FINISH HIM!!!

37 posted on 03/08/2006 1:37:39 PM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: mlc9852
I'm curious as to how they arrived at 330 million years ago.

Some scientists swore it couldn't have been a day over 315 million.

38 posted on 03/08/2006 1:38:23 PM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys - Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat - But they know what's best.)
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To: GreenFreeper
" Sorry for the flood of pings today..."
No problem. Hmmmm. Wonder how the Allien would have did against this beastie. One heck of a battle I am sure. Throw them into the pit mateys!
39 posted on 03/08/2006 1:39:06 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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You can run in to these things all over Durotar.


40 posted on 03/08/2006 1:40:02 PM PST by vollmond (Careful with that axe, Eugene!)
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