Ancient dog-size sea scorpion unearthed in China
By Ben Turner about 1 hour ago
The sea scorpion was the apex predator of its time.
An artist's impression of Terropterus xiushanensis. (Image credit: Yang Dinghua)
A 3.3 foot-long (1 meter) sea scorpion prowled the seas of what is now China some 435 million years ago, using its giant, spiny arms to ensnare prey.
Archaeologists recently discovered the remains of this scorpion (Terropterus xiushanensis), which was a eurypterid — an ancient arthropod closely related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs, the researchers wrote in the Nov. 30 issue of the journal Science Bulletin.
Its barbed limbs "were presumably used for prey-capture, and analogies can be drawn with the 'catching basket' formed by the spiny pedipalps of whip spiders … among the arachnids," study co-author Bo Wang from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues wrote in the new study. Pedipalps are the front-most appendages of arachnids. Usually dedicated to transferring sperm from male spiders to female mates, in some arachnids, such as whip spiders, pedipalps have become adapted to snatch prey.
The fossilized appendages of the sea scorpion, accompanied by an artist's recreation. (Image credit: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
The fearsome beastie lived during the Silurian period, between approximately 443.8 million and 419.2 million years ago. At this time, the scorpions would have been the apex predators in their underwater stalking grounds, pouncing on unsuspecting fish and mollusks; scooping them up in their pedipalps; and shoving them into their mouths.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/sea-scorpion-discovered-china?utm_source=notification
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