Giant Scorpions Rule

[rugcat]

Every once in a while, a news story (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/20/international/i170927S42.DTL&hw=scorpion&sn=001&sc=1000) comes up to remind us that there are still plenty of surprises in the fossil record.

[lpetrich]

That's essentially an especially big eurypterid or sea scorpion; eurypterids were common over most of the Paleozoic, but went extinct in the mass extinction at the end of that geological era. Some previously-known eurypterids would get close to this recently-discovered one's size.

Eurypterid Links:
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_scorpion)
Palaeos (http://www.palaeos.com/Invertebrates/Arthropods/Chelicerata/Eurypterida/Eurypterida.html)

[Joe270]

Hey, how'd I miss this thread?