Brontoscorpio
Brontoscorpio was a giant scorpion that lived long before the dinosaurs, in the Devonian period. Scientists only found one huge claw finger, almost 10 centimetres long. From that claw they guess the whole animal may have been almost a metre long.
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Fun facts
Its claw finger was found in England, in red sandstone rocks that formed in old rivers.
Many scientists now think Brontoscorpio is the same animal as Praearcturus, another giant first found in England in 1870.
Praearcturus was first thought to be a giant woodlouse, then a giant millipede, before people decided it was a scorpion.
It may have lived in or near water, because its fossils come from old river mud.
Most asked questions about Brontoscorpio
?How big was Brontoscorpio?
Scientists guess it was about 77 to 94 centimetres long, but they only have one claw to go on.
?When did Brontoscorpio live?
In the Devonian period, around 400 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs.
?Was Brontoscorpio the biggest scorpion ever?
It was one of the biggest. Because only small pieces were found, nobody knows its exact size.
Myth buster
Myth: Brontoscorpio was surely a giant scorpion.
Truth: It is not completely certain. Only small pieces have been found, and some scientists think they might belong to a crustacean instead. The newest studies do support the scorpion idea.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Brontoscorpio
- Named by
- Kjellesvig-Waering, 1972
- Group
- Prehistoric giants
- Family
- Praearcturidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Scorpiones > Praearcturidae
Where the facts come from
- Praearcturus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Richard J. Howard, Russell J. Garwood, Gregory D. Edgecombe, David A. Legg. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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