One Large Bug

Be happy that you don’t encounter anything this big outside of the movies. I wear a size 12 boot but this is a little bit too large to just squash.

“LONDON – A scientist in Scotland has discovered tracks made by a huge water scorpion 330 million years ago, the first of the species ever discovered and the only evidence showing it could survive outside of the water, according to the journal Nature’s edition to be published Thursday.

Martin Whyte, a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield, discovered the fossil of a hibbertopteroid — a type of scorpion — in Scotland’s Midland Valley.

“There has been in the past discussion centering around hibbertopteroid gills, feeding structures and limb strengths and whether or not these animals could come out of the water. Here at last is independent evidence that they could,” he told The Associated Press.

According to Whyte’s analysis of the fossil, the creature was a six-legged water scorpion measuring 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. The length of its stride indicates that the animal was crawling extremely slowly. Evidence that it was dragging part of its body suggests that it was probably moving out of water, Whyte said.”