Paleontologists re-examined fossil specimens that had been in museum collections for over 150 years and identified them as belonging to Praearcturus gigas — the largest scorpion known to science. This creature, which lived about 415 million years ago in the Early Devonian on the territory of modern England and Wales, reached about one meter in length, with pincers longer than 16 centimeters. Previously, the fossils had been mistakenly classified as a giant crustacean. The new interpretation, supported by modern analytical methods and comparisons with more recently discovered fossils, radically changes our understanding of how and when arthropods evolved to such large sizes. Scientists suggest that the lack of other large predators and possibly a semi-aquatic lifestyle (indicated by flap-like structures on the abdomen resembling those of modern crustaceans) allowed it to dominate its environment.
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