Posted on 11/20/2007 7:45:12 PM PST by Pharmboy
This is a computer generated image issued by the University
of Bristol in England released on Tuesday Nov. 20, 2007
showing a size comparison between a human an ancient sea
scorpion. A fossil found in Germany indicates the ancient
sea scorpion was once 2.5 metres (8 feet) long, making
it the biggest bug ever known to have existed. (AP
Photo/University of Bristol, HO)
This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.
The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.
"This is an amazing discovery," he said Tuesday.
"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.
The research found a type of sea scorpion that was almost half a yard longer than previous estimates and the largest one ever to have evolved.
The study, published online Tuesday in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall.
Prof. Jeorg W. Schneider, a paleontologist at Freiberg Mining Academy in southeastern Germany, said the study provides valuable new information about "the last of the giant scorpions."
Schneider, who was not involved in the study, said these scorpions "were dominant for millions of years because they didn't have natural enemies. Eventually they were wiped out by large fish with jaws and teeth."
Braddy's partner paleontologist Markus Poschmann found the claw fossil several years ago in a quarry near Prum, Germany, that probably had once been an ancient estuary or swamp.
"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realized there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab. After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw," said Poschmann, another author of the study.
"Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilize it," he said.
Eurypterids, or ancient sea scorpions, are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of today's scorpions and possibly all arachnids, a class of joint-legged, invertebrate animals, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks.
Braddy said the fossil was from a Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, a kind of scorpion that lived only in Germany for about 10 million years, about 400 million years ago.
He said some geologists believe that gigantic sea scorpions evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others suspect they evolved in an "arms race" alongside their likely prey, fish that had armor on their outer bodies.
Braddy said the sea scorpions also were cannibals that fought and ate one other, so it helped to be as big as they could be.
"The competition between this scorpion and its prey was probably like a nuclear standoff, an effort to have the biggest weapon," he said. "Hundreds of millions of years ago, these sea scorpions had the upper hand over vertebrates — backboned animals like ourselves."
That competition ended long ago.
But the next time you swat a fly, or squish a spider at home, Braddy said, try to "think about the insects that lived long ago. You wouldn't want to swat one of those."
___
On the Net: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk
Inside an enormous fossilized rotary phone full of global warming air
It's Bush's fault!
/GASP
Such nonsense. To test such a theory, you can place a scorpion in an oxygen-rich container from birth to death.
Won't be any larger or smaller than its siblings. Nor will its offspring. Nor theirs.
Yet more reasons why "evolution" makes for lousy science.
HA...perfect response! (Blonde or dark??)
My 8YO neice slugbugged me on the road, I threatened her life, then she slugged me again on sight of the next bug! And she's an otherwise normal kid.
Aw, shucks. You just need the right shoe for the right job.
Used to be you couldn’t sling a dead cat without hitting one. Aside from mine I think I’ve seen three in the last 5 years. Going the dual carb, big valve heads, wild cam, large exhaust route on mine. Using it as a teaching tool for my 5 yr old too.
Actually, the human model was shorter than it should have been.
That should be the consequence, shouldn't it? Larger animals are easier to make extinct. Once the large ones are gone, the big fish with big teeth becomes somewhat useless at catching small, nimble prey. Thus, they die out as well.
Otherwise known to be SPAWN OF HILLIARY.
Bet it tastes like chicken.
So the old sci fi movies weren’t that far off.
where oh where is Ender Wiggins and his cadets when you need them. They’d know how to treat these ‘buggers’
I’d say best served with drawn butter, and a bit of lemon...
Requires a mighty large pot...
LOL How did we forget the Beatles? They were BIG back in the day.
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