Fossils of extinct scorpionflies found in B.C.

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Source

Ancient fossils of an extinct family of insects have been found in British Columbia and northern Washington state, and a Canadian biologist says they may hold valuable lessons about climate change and evolution.

Archibald noted that there are now only two families of scorpionflies left, even though there were once six.

Here is the fossil


And the real thing....ew!

I find Scorpions weird looking and even a tad scary and I try to stay away whenever I see one, and now...I find out that they have a flying kind....gosh....

Interesting find nonetheless, I just had to share.

thoughts?

reply to post by Teye22


What... the... hell is that thing! Amazing find, yes! If I saw one of those things.... I'd shoot it... Just sayin

This Earth never ceases to amaze me...

Originally posted by sulaw
reply to post by Teye22

 

What... the... hell is that thing!

Amazing find, yes! If I saw one of those things.... I'd shoot it... Just sayin

This Earth never ceases to amaze me...

looks like you'd need an elephant gun for those...

Nice find OP.. I would hate to get caught in a swarm of those things.. I wonder how venomous the sting was? Ive been stung by a scorpion before, it was like a bee sting.. Apparently I wasnt allergic and it was down on the poison scale. (black, kind you get at pet store)..

Has any one ever seen the mist? It looks just like the thing that stung that one chick in the neck and mad her face turn to mush. I wouldn't want to have encountered this thing when it was alive.

What's the sting like?

Looks kinda like the mosquitoes we have here in Louisiana.

Instead of a fly swatter, i have to carry my shotgun around with me for mosquito protection.

That's a crazy looking creature alright, S+F.

reply to post by Teye22


You may be right... what about this....





That thing just give's me the heebie jeebies~ What if you were sleeping in the woods and that THING landed on your face.... Something straight out of the movie Aliens~

OMFG!!!!

That is one freaky creature! I hope I only ever see pictures of these.

Great find OP!

S+F

reply to post by Teye22


I love scorpions! Pretty neat it had wings, kinda scary too. Thanks for the post.

reply to post by Teye22


No thank you!

One of my ongoing jokes is let us always be thankful scorpions cannot fly. Oh no! And what does he mean by there are two species left? Are these things still around?

Originally posted by HooHaa
Nice find OP.. I would hate to get caught in a swarm of those things.. I wonder how venomous the sting was? Ive been stung by a scorpion before, it was like a bee sting.. Apparently I wasnt allergic and it was down on the poison scale. (black, kind you get at pet store)..

I never got stung by any kind of scorpion and hope I never do. I have only seem 2 scorpions in my life...they were: 1 Gray and 1 white (we had put them in a box and watched them fight...that was a decade ago and I would never try that again....just in case they call them for backup )

I wouldn't feel a thing if there was a swarm of these attacking me....because I would already be dead of a heart attack!

Originally posted by BriGuyTM90
Has any one ever seen the mist? It looks just like the thing that stung that one chick in the neck and mad her face turn to mush. I wouldn't want to have encountered this thing when it was alive.

I thought the same thing...it does look like the bugs in that movie..

I would freak out if I saw one.......hope I never ever do

reply to post by sulaw


My point exactly....I have no clue how big they were.....If I ever hear they are moving in on my area....I am getting one of those flamethrowers for sure.....oh and a bazooka!

reply to post by AshleyD


Sorry Ashley I didn't mean to burst your bubble!!

Sadly according to the article, 2 species are still alive and kicking!

Looks like the swarm of locusts from revelations.

7The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.8They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.10They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.

Creepy deepy.

reply to post by badgerprints


OK now Im freaking out!

Originally posted by Teye22
reply to post by AshleyD

 

Sorry Ashley I didn't mean to burst your bubble!!

Sadly according to the article, 2 species are still alive and kicking!

Oh great. they kick too?!

Flying kicking stinging insects that look like scorpions.
They probably scream too, i'll bet.

Originally posted by Teye22
Not Sure if this is in the right forum so mods feel free to move it if required.

Source

Ancient fossils of an extinct family of insects have been found in British Columbia and northern Washington state, and a Canadian biologist says they may hold valuable lessons about climate change and evolution.

Archibald noted that there are now only two families of scorpionflies left, even though there were once six.

Here is the fossil

cute..

perhaps a scorpion mated with a fly to create this.. lols
And the real thing....ew!

I find Scorpions weird looking and even a tad scary and I try to stay away whenever I see one, and now...I find out that they have a flying kind....gosh....

Interesting find nonetheless, I just had to share.

thoughts?

Originally posted by AlexanderM
What's the sting like?

Don't worry he won't sting you with his reproduction organ(that's what it is).
Imagine a sting from that

I see them pretty often when going on a macro-shoot trip, the first time i saw one, i didn't noticed the 'stinger' only afterwards i saw it on the shots i took. I just thought, damn this insect has a pretty cool head.

Cool to hear they lived 50million years ago.
4 of the 6 families are extinct, so 2 still alive today. I must say they did a good job at surviving