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Quirks and Quarks

Ancient Scorpions Were a Step Ahead

Fossil Scorpions from 430 million years ago suggest the start of adaptation from aquatic to land-dwelling.
CBC Radio ·
One of the fossils of the 430 million year old scorpion, Eramoscorpius brucensis. ( © David Rudkin, Royal Ontario Museum)
Scorpions are immensely ancient animals, though the earliest ones we know of, from more than 430 million years ago, were likely marine animals rather than desert creatures.

Newly reported fossils of scorpions found in Ontario, however, suggest that they might have been one of the earliest animals to establish a foothold on land. Janet Waddington, a Departmental Associate in the Natural History Department at the Royal Ontario Museum, has been studying a trove of fossils discovered in quarried stone from the Bruce Peninsula.

The fossils suggest that these animals were moving onto deserted tidal flats - and, at least partially, out of the water - in order to find a safe place to moult. Unlike other scorpions from ealier deposits, they had feet and legs that would have allowed them to support their weight out of the water.

Related Links

- Paper in Biology Letters
- Royal Ontario Museum release
- Live Science story
- New Scientist story

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