Super Scorpion: There’s more to worry about than its sting

by Thor on Nov. 24th, 2007
in Biological Populations Change Over Time

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Super-size me: We're used to seeing scorpions that were much smaller than humans. But the 400 million-year-old sea scorpion claw recently found in Germany translates into eight-foot long creatures that were predators of the sea.
Courtesy DivinorumIf it were a from a crab or lobster, the world’s finest chefs and seafood connoisseurs would be doing back flips of joy.

But the 18-inch fossilized claw found a few years ago in Germany comes from what is believed to be the largest known scorpion, a sea creature that stretched eight feet long.

British researchers this week announced their findings of this Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, which lived about 400 million years ago.

This sea scorpion is about a yard longer than any previously found sea scorpion specimens and the researchers who found it think it was likely the main water predator of its era. The size of its claws would have allowed it to capture armored fish, other early vertebrates and arthropods and even small sea scorpions. They believe they were cannibalistic, eating members of their own species.

But over time, fish species evolved with stronger hunting characteristics, including jaws with mouth-filled teeth that were more effective than the sea scorpion’s claws. To survive, the sea scorpions down sized to be quicker and easier to hide. And over time, researchers believe, they began making forays on to land to be more competitive in the food chain.

Judging from the spindly legs of smaller sea scorpions from that same era, the giants would not have been strong and sturdy enough to carry themselves on land.

More details on Jaekelopterus rhenaniae can be found here.

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Anonymous says:

Will scorpians ever get that big again?

posted on Sun, 11/25/2007 - 1:41pm

JGordon says:

Probably not for a very long time (millions of years) if they ever do.

Thor touched on this - and he may have some better input than me - but I think the main reason that these "bugs" got so big was because there wasn't the same sort of competition at the time. Like Thor said, it wasn't until fish evolved to be larger, better hunters that these big sea scorpions started disappearing.

Another thing is that there used to be higher oxygen levels in the air at various periods in the past, and some scientists think that this allowed bugs to evolve to be really big. In the Carboniferous period (about 350 million years ago) there was about 37% more oxygen in the air, allowing things like giant millipedes and huge dragonflies. This might have played less of a role with primarily aquatic creatures like sea scorpions, though. I'm not sure.

This just came to mind, however - I can think of at least one man-sized scorpion that has been occasionally spotted in the present era. Here.

posted on Sun, 11/25/2007 - 2:34pm