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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: mlc9852

Yay! You get a cookie!

No, I'm about to go home and don't have time to look up the article and it's also likely that they did not date it but cited others' research. Another poster replied to you that this strata is quite well known, perhaps you should ask that person for some hints on sources of this information. Or go hit your closest university library. It's quite interesting stuff.


61 posted on 03/08/2006 1:59:15 PM PST by ahayes
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To: vollmond
You can run in to these things all over Durotar.

You're gonna HATE DeathSnap in Silthius, then....
62 posted on 03/08/2006 2:00:19 PM PST by SpinnerWebb (It's time to play Cowboys and Muslims)
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To: ahayes

LOL - I am not THAT curious. Just wondering. I just like more details I guess.


63 posted on 03/08/2006 2:00:28 PM PST by mlc9852
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To: S0122017

'Clash of the Titans'

64 posted on 03/08/2006 2:02:07 PM PST by right-wingin_It
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To: edpc
You just HAD to post that ! Now I'm not going to be worth a damn for the rest of the day.

Nam Vet

65 posted on 03/08/2006 2:03:55 PM PST by Nam Vet (The Democrat Party of America is perfectly P.C. * .(* P.C. = Patriotically Challenged)
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To: Old Professer
Thanks Professer.
66 posted on 03/08/2006 2:05:35 PM PST by S0122017 (I like posting)
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To: S0122017
Must make great pets.

Or a fine crab-leg dinner. Of course, at a meter wide, who would be for dinner would be up for grabs...

67 posted on 03/08/2006 2:06:43 PM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: edpc
When I was a kid, I had that poster hanging in my bedroom.

I always loved Raquel Welch.

68 posted on 03/08/2006 2:11:20 PM PST by lormand (...the wrong person came out of the water that fateful night in Chappaquiddick)
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To: mlc9852
Now do you know what type of dating they did use?

Basically, they measure the proportions of mother/daughter radioisotopes found in those rock layers, including Uranium-238/Lead-206, Uranium-235/Lead-207, Thorium-232/Lead-208, Rubidium-87/Strontium-87, Potassium-40/Argon-40, and Samarium-147/Neodymium-143.

69 posted on 03/08/2006 2:13:38 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (Tagline deleted at request of moderator.)
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To: BadAndy

You forgot the Giant Gila Monster, Tarantula and Them.
Reptillicus showed that we can drag up a prehistoric monster from the ice cores of the artic, ( Beware global warming, what will we wake up)


70 posted on 03/08/2006 2:24:40 PM PST by Waverunner
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse

Thanks!


71 posted on 03/08/2006 2:24:52 PM PST by mlc9852
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To: S0122017

Scorpion bigger than human described

Obviously wasn't found by a fisherman


72 posted on 03/08/2006 2:25:33 PM PST by Waverunner
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To: S0122017
One of these almost the size of my hand scared the crap out of me in the Gulf War. Apparently they like boots.


73 posted on 03/08/2006 2:27:13 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: finnman69

That was a really bad movie.


74 posted on 03/08/2006 2:31:16 PM PST by biggerten (Love you, Mom.)
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To: Shalom Israel
We're running out of air! We're running out of air! Gaaaak!
---
Well, if you wouldn't run around in circles screaming at the top of your lungs it would last longer.
75 posted on 03/08/2006 2:35:29 PM PST by Cheburashka (World's only Spatula City certified spatula repair and maintenance specialist!!!)
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To: S0122017

Was the force of gravity less then? I mean less than now? That doesn't look engineerable with today's G and g.


76 posted on 03/08/2006 2:36:15 PM PST by bvw
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To: mlc9852
I'm curious as to how they arrived at 330 million years ago."

God created it 330 million years ago. My scripture book tells me so, "The book of the scorpion."

77 posted on 03/08/2006 2:41:38 PM PST by MonroeDNA (Look for the union label--on the bat crashing through your windshield!)
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To: mlc9852

The best if used by date was stamped on the bottom.


78 posted on 03/08/2006 4:50:31 PM PST by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: festus

The time was dominated by large insects.

Really big spiders, really big dragon-flys, lots of other large scorpian species, some large amphibians and a few moderate sized reptiles.

And Helen Thomas was in there somewhere too.


79 posted on 03/08/2006 5:02:18 PM PST by JustDoItAlways
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To: festus

Now that makes sense!


80 posted on 03/08/2006 5:07:17 PM PST by mlc9852
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