Paleontologists describe new genus and species of extinct scorpions from the early Cretaceous Ixia Formation in China.
Jeholia Longkengi It is China's first Mesozoic scorpion. Image credit: Jie Sun/Xuan et al. , doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.035.
It has been named Jeholia LongkengiThe new species lived around 125 million years ago (early Cretaceous period).
The fossilized scorpion ruins are Yixian Layer In the village of Heishangou in Chifen City, Nei Mongolia, China.
“Scorpions belong to the Arachnida class within the arthropod and have a relatively small number of fossil records,” said Dr. Qiang Xuan, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Paleontology and a researcher of excellence for the excellence of life and paleoenvironment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Early scorpions came from the Midsilurian era, and at least some of them are interpreted as transient forms from sea to land.”
“Even though they are among the early terrestrial arthropods, fossils and living scorpions retain mostly conservative body plans.”
“Mesozoic scorpions are primarily from the Burmese system in the Middle Cretaceous, but compressed scorpion fossils that usually accumulate in the hierarchy are relatively rare, except for late Triassic Cuper sandstone formation in England and late Cretaceous Krato formation in Brazil.”
“Three fossil scorpions, including the Miocene scorpion, have been reported from China Sinoscorpius Shandongensis From Devonian Scorpion, County Chandon Hubeiscorpio gracilitarsis From Hubei Province and Permian Scorpion Eoscorpius sp. From Uda, Nei Mongol. ”
Jeholia Longkengi He was a member of the early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem known as Jehoru Biotait is internationally renowned for the discovery of exceptional fossils, including feathered dinosaurs, early birds, diverse mammals, pterosaurs, and several arthropod fossils.
“The Jehol Biota is one of the most important and prolific fossil sites for studying early Cretaceous life,” the paleontologist said.
“No previous fossil scorpions have been recorded despite many fossil species being reported.”
The full length of Jeholia Longkengi It was about 10 cm (4 inches). It is larger than other Mesozoic scorpions and considerably larger than many living scorpions.
“Jeholia Longkengi They may feed primarily a variety of insects, including herbivorous, omnivorous, corrosive, fungal and predatory species that are common in gel biotas, and perhaps spiders, frogs, small salamanders, lizards and mammals,” the researchers said.
“We recommend that potential natural enemies of this Cretaceous scorpion include dinosaurs, birds and mammals, according to previously reported Jehol Biota food web model.”
“However, there is no fossil record for the oral sector, so speculation about their feeding habits is in the preliminary stage.”
“Middle centrality is a metric that quantifies the importance of a node in connecting other nodes in the network,” they added.
“It plays a pivotal role in assessing the extent to which a node acts as a bridge and linking other nodes in the network.”
“In Jehor's Biota Food Network, large scorpions exhibit the highest intermediate centrality of all guilds, highlighting the possibility that fossil scorpions had extensive ecological interactions with other species of early terrestrial ecosystems.”
“Our findings contribute to new insights into the complexity of Yel Biota's food web,” they concluded.
Team's paper Published in the journal Science news.
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Qiang Xuan et al. The first Mesozoic scorpion from China and its ecological meaning. Science newsPublished online on January 24th, 2025. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.035
Source: www.sci.news
