Fossil of biggest scorpion in the world found in UK
The world's biggest scorpion may have looked something like this
- Published
Experts have identifed a gigantic scorpion that lived 415 million years ago from pieces of fossil found in the UK.
The fossils were discovered 150 years ago but, until now, scientists had not been able to work out the exact animal from which they came.
The fragments suggest the giant scorpion had 16-centimetre-long pincers and a metre long body.
In fact, the research published in the journal Paleontology, says the Praearcturus gigas scorpion would have been around the size of a Labrador dog!
The pincers of Praearcturus were 16 centimetres long!
This means that hundreds of millions of years ago, parts of England and Wales were home to the biggest scorpion in the world.
Because life on land was still fairly new when Praearcturus was about, few other animals would have reached such enormous sizes.
Scientists think Praearcturus stalked wetland areas of what is now England and Wales; a deadly predator hunting in water and on land, feeding on fish and animals.
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In fact, Dr Richie Howard, the lead author of the study said Praearcturus would have been able to gobble up many types of prey for lunch.
"Praearcturus lived when life on land was just starting out and the ancestors of reptiles, mammals and birds were yet to leave the water," he said.
"It suggests that this species might have grown so big because there weren't any other large predators, allowing it to dominate its environment."
Sounds like the mega scoprion was truly in-pinc-ible!
