8 foot scorpion fossil discovered

I don't get into the evolution debate, choosing to see evolution as both logical and flawed in principle. What i DO debate about is the condition/nature of the ancient Earth. I believe catastrophism drives any evolving traits more than incrementalism...and this goes into my belief that the Earthen gravity has increased considerably.

Consider the following:

www.usatoday.com...

How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.

"This is an amazing discovery," he said Tuesday.

"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

This would seem unsubstantial, unless you consider that the largest "bug" on earth right now is a japanese form of crab, weighing about 45lbs. There are two current lines of thought as to why this is the largest "bug" on earth right now:

1. the exoskeleton is unable to support the weight effectively becoming so thick in its effort to support the rest of the body, that little room is left for the softer biological parts. this seems logical, if over simplified.

2. The exoskeletons have several breathing holes and trachea's. As the shell becomes larger the trachea's become more narrow, inhibiting the aerobic functions of the organism.

Snce there is still no definitive answer, one would have to ask how this giant scorpion managed to be so large?

you are probably about the sixth person to post this

reply to post by xbrendanx


Then that makes me the 5th laziest person?

Thanks for stopping by!!!

no doubt there would of been adoptions to overcome these problems. exoskeletons are big and heavy and they have to be shed if the organism wants to get bigger. if this scorpion spent the majority of its time in water, this would help to support the weight, apposed to being terrestrial.

i did do a brief few weeks on paleontology at uni.. someone correct me if i'm wrong but i don't think there was any large-predators with endoskeletons around the time these giant critters lived. you could say its flipped around in a way, now the organisms with endoskeletons are eating/suppressing little bugs from getting any bigger. when in the past it was the opposite.

reply to post by cheeser


Initially, no...there was no predator capable of eating these animals. This is what paleontologists believe drove their extinction (fish with sharper teeth able to pierce the shell)....but i am not sure i buy that. I think extinction likely has been caused more by environmental factors moreso than predatory factors.

Regarding aquatic buoyancy....the largest "bugs" currently are a type of crab (described above) that live a semi aquatic life (as most crabs do). The buoyancy doesn't help them too much.

It's about the OXYGEN not the gravity....the OXYGEN causes animals to get larger. Cuz....if people were around a billion years ago..they would probably be 15+ ft tall....still I would never wish to encounter an 8ft scorp.


[edit on 24-11-2007 by laiguana]

This thing reminds me of the "lobstrosities" that lopped off Roland's fingers in "The Gunslinger". Or was that "The Drawing of the Three?"

To think something like this actually existed at one time in the distant past makes me wonder if Stephen King is a time traveler.

Stephn King's dark tower series describes these. When the sun goes down take rank from the shore. Ca'chunk Ca'chunk. You stole my thunder Icarus, how dare thee.. Is SK a time traveler? I will tell you this. He is one seriously wierd dude. Named myself and my boss in a former novel.


[edit on 24-11-2007 by jpm1602]

Those things freaked me out when I read about them coming after Roland. As if lopping off his fingers wasn't bad enough, the wound became infected and nearly killled him to boot!

I was spending quite a bit of time in the water surfing and skin diving then, too. Those things really gave me the eebee geebees. Didn't stop me from going in the water, though.

Stephen King is quite a character. I believe he has the grand conspiracy, the greatest horror story of all time, all figured out, and he hides it in the subplot of his stories quite adroitly.

reply to post by laiguana


that is an interesting point. What effect would oxygen have on humans in greater amounts? would the aging effect be more pronounced due to the increased introduction of oxidizing elements?

What effect would it have on our atmosphere? One would expect that there would be a MUCH different atmospheric effect if there were more oxygen.

The daytime sky...what color would it be? With more oxygen/less nitrogen, what colors would we see?