A coffee-table-size scorpion roamed Earth before forests existed

A meter-long scorpion with massive pincers stalked ancient Britain 415 million years ago, long before forests and the better-known age of giant insects. Its surprising size and possible semi-aquatic lifestyle could reshape ideas about how early arthropods became giants. A coffee-table-size scorpion roamed Earth before forests existed.

Researchers from The University of Manchester and the Natural History Museum reached the conclusion after revisiting fossils that had remained in museum collections for more than 150 years. The animal, Praearcturus gigas, reached roughly one meter in length and carried pincers more than 16 centimeters long. Around 415 million years ago, it would have been an imposing predator in the floodplain environments of the Early Devonian.

A study published in Palaeontology used modern analytical methods and comparisons with more recently described fossil species to determine that Praearcturus was a scorpion and represented a distinct species. Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum, London, and lead author of the study, said: "When we think of giant arthropods, people often picture Carboniferous rainforests with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects from later in Earth’s history. But Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was only just getting started.