Tag Archives: scorpion

Chinese researchers have uncovered 125 million Scorpion fossils

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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

400 Million Years Ago, A Giant Scorpion Might Have Been a Crustacean

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Extinct giant aquatic arthropods called sea scorpions (Eurypterids) were apex predators. A new study suggests that early species of carcinosomatoids, with their scorpion-like spiny limbs, fed on trilobites, while later species preferred armored fish. Carcinosomatoids evolved into scorpions, but not the giant scorpion-like creatures that lived 400 million years ago. Preactorus and Brontoscorpio which is published in Walking with monsters (TV series) was probably a crustacean.

Reconstruction Pentecopterus (170 cm long), the oldest known sea scorpion (Eurypteridae), from the Ordovician Period (467 million years ago) of Iowa, USA. Image by John Alexander.

Sea scorpions (family: Ophiocephalidae) are ancient aquatic creepies (arthropods, meaning they have segmented bodies, exoskeletons, and jointed legs) that lived from 467 million years ago until about 253 million years ago.

Some pterygian Eurypterids can grow to lengths of nearly 2.6 metres, making them the largest insects ever to have lived. Eurypterids also include the predatory carcinosomatoids, namely the megalograpts, carcinosomatoids and mixopterids, which have long spiny limbs and can grow to lengths of up to 2 metres.

Carcinosomatoids used their long, spiny limbs to catch prey and burrow into the mud, and computer models suggest that they were slow swimmers who preferred to live close to the sea floor as ambush predators.

New research on fossils found alongside megalograptids suggests that they were primarily associated with trilobites, a diverse group of extinct marine arthropods.

Carcinosomatids tend to live in symbiosis with lightly armoured phyllocallid crustaceans and lingulid brachiopods (lamp shells).

Mixopterid fishes tend to coexist with more heavily armoured fishes such as therodonts, osteostracans and pteraspids.

Fossilized feces (coprolites) prove that they ate trilobites, armored fish, and even their own kind (cannibals).

The idea that nudibranchs influenced the evolution of armored fishes in the predator-prey arms race is often dismissed.

The study suggests that mixopterids and pterygians had some influence on their evolution (and on our very ancient ancestors).

Megalograptus is interpreted as being more primitive than previously thought, which means that early (Ordovician) crinoid diversity has been overestimated.

Scorpions are thought to have evolved from a Mixopteridae-like ancestor, evolving claws (palps), stingers, and comb-like sensory pecten on their undersides.

Giant scorpions may be the creatures of your nightmares, but they actually existed in Scotland's Carboniferous period. Pulmonoscorpiusand Gigantoscorpio.

Reconstruction PulmonoscorpiusA giant scorpion (70 cm long) from the Carboniferous period of Scotland (330 million years ago). Image by Junnn11 / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Even longer (1 meter) scorpions PreactorusThis dinosaur, which lived in Herefordshire, England, is also thought to have lived 412 million years ago.

However, the grooves on its shell, the pustular ornamentation, and the recurved first segment suggest that it is in fact a crustacean.

Bennett TaltraThey come from the same layer and region and may be related (or slightly smaller) Preactorus.

BrontoscorpioIt is an estimated 86cm long (400 million years old) scorpion featured in a BBC television series. Walking with monstersOnly a small portion of the claws are known, and it is probably a crustacean. Image courtesy of Impossible Pictures.

Brontoscorpio(86cm long), discovered in Worcestershire, England (400 million years ago) and featured in an award-winning BBC television series. Walking with monsters Possibly a crustacean too.

So giant scorpions, along with giant millipedes measuring two metres in length and giant dragonflies with wingspans of 75 centimetres, didn't come into existence until the Carboniferous period 70 million years later.

Modern scorpions gradually acquired their modern characteristics: early scorpions had more primitive legs and eyes, and lacked an anterior mouth cavity for feeding on land, so were probably aquatic or amphibious.

The oldest known scorpion Palioscorpio It was discovered in Wisconsin from the Early Silurian (437 million years ago) but has been reinterpreted as a trilobite-like arthropod.

The oldest scorpion is now Dolichophonus (433-438 Ma) Originating from Scotland.

this the study Published in New Jarlbuch in Geology and Palaeontology.

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Braddy, S.J. 2024. Palaeoecology and phylogeny of carcinosomatid eurypterids: ichnolog- y and palaeoassemblages. New Jarlbuch in Geology and Palaeontology; doi: 10.1127/njgpa/2024/1206

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists discover a previously unknown species of fake scorpion trapped in 50-million-year-old amber

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Paleontologists have reported fossils of a new genus and species of pseudoscorpion from the Eocene Cambay amber of western India.

Geogaranya variensis. Image credit: Agnihotri other, doi: 10.26879/1276.

pseudo scorpion It is the earliest order of arthropods to colonize Earth’s land during the early Devonian period.

This diverse order accounts for more than 3% of all known arachnid species.

“Pseudoscorpions are an ancient lineage of terrestrial arachnids that are morphologically similar to real scorpions, but lack the tail and stinger,” said Dr. Priya Agnihotri of DST’s Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences and colleagues.

“Certain families have unique venom devices in the serrated digits of their palps, which evolved independently of the venom devices of scorpions and spiders.”

“Recent research also supports the inclusion of pseudoscorpions as a sister group to scorpions.”

“Due to their delicate bodies and small size, these fossils are mainly found in amber deposits around the world rather than in sediments,” they added.

“Forty-nine pseudoscorpion species have been recorded from Eocene Baltic amber and Rovno amber.”

Newly discovered pseudoscorpion species belongs to the small scorpion family Goridae.

named Geogaranya variensis showing strong similarities with extant genera. Geogalypus From Sri Lanka, India, and New Guinea.

“The Geogarypidae family is one of a group of bark-dwelling and leaf litter-dwelling species similar to the Geogarypidae family. Gallipidae It has a distinctive subtriangular carapace and eyes located near the leading edge,” the paleontologist said.

“This family includes more than 70 species with habitats suitable for tropical and subtropical regions, some of which have been reported from temperate biomes.”

“Geogarypidae are more common in Baltic and Rovno amber, and there are some records from Cretaceous Burmese amber.”

“Unlike the sparse record of fossils, their modern-day counterparts have been recorded in all major biogeographic regions, including Europe, Central Asia, North America, and North Africa.”

Amber from Cambay from 50 million years ago. Geogaranya variensis It was discovered in the open-pit Valia lignite mine, part of the Cambay Shale Formation, in the Cambay Basin of Gujarat, India.

“The Cambay Shale Formation overlies the Deccan Trap, and below it is the Paleocene to lower Eocene Vagadkol Formation,” the researchers said.

According to the team: Geogaranya variensis It is one of the smallest known adult pseudoscorpion fossils in amber from the Cambay Basin.

This discovery further strengthens the biodiversity of bark-dwelling arthropods identified in Eocene amber from western India.

“The discovery of the smallest known adult pseudoscorpion in Cambay Basin amber aligns it with fossil taxa recorded in Baltic Sea amber and Bitterfeld amber that survived the early Eocene. “This provides insight into similar bark-dwelling arthropod taxa,” the scientists concluded.

“Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed diagnostic features in the fossils, such as abnormally enlarged palps. This strengthened Foresy’s idea that species from non-arboreal habitats could be mistakenly This suggests that it may have been carried in amber and had a connection to a flying host.”

discovery of Geogaranya variensis is reported in paper in diary Old Trogia Electronica.

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priya agnihotri other. 2024. A new genus and species of fossil pseudoscorpion (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) discovered in Eocene amber from western India. Old Trogia Electronica 27 (2):a26; doi: 10.26879/1276

Source: www.sci.news