Brontoscorpio

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Brontoscorpio
Fossil range: Silurian

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Family: Eoscorpiidae
Genus: Brontoscorpio
Binomial name
Brontoscorpio anglicus

Brontoscorpio anglicus ("English thunder scorpion") was a 1-metre long aquatic scorpion that lived during the Silurian period. When alive, B. anglicus would have resembled an oversized scorpion, albeit with relatively large (for a scorpion) compound eyes; it was an important predator of its time, given that the arthropods were among the largest animals on Earth during the Silurian.

Contents

[edit] Suggested Ecology and Lifestyle

All post-Paleozoic scorpions are terrestrial, while during the Silurian many of the known taxa made the transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments. It has been inferred that Brontoscorpio was capable of leaving the water and entering land, whether to evade other predators, such as large nautiloids, eurypterids, or even other aquatic scorpions; or pursue prey, such as other, smaller terrestrial scorpions[citation needed]. However, given its great size, B. anglicus had to return to the water when it tired of supporting its own weight, or at the very least whenever it moulted its exoskeleton (on land, it would risk being crushed by its own mass)[citation needed]. Marine scorpions such as B. anglicus captured, stung, and ate small sea animals such as fish like acanthodians, heterostracans, smaller scorpions and trilobites[citation needed].

[edit] Anatomy

As with other arachnids, such as modern scorpions, Brontoscorpio respired through gas exchange via pores in its exoskeleton and the inner linings of its book lungs[citation needed]. Its tail was tipped with a large, venomous stinger that was, according to Walking with Monsters, the size of a light bulb[citation needed].

[edit] Popular Culture

Brontoscorpio was featured in the first episode of the BBC TV series Walking With Monsters, where it is erroneously shown preying on the early armoured jawless fish Cephalaspis, only to be attacked and eaten, in turn, by the enormous eurypterid Pterygotus. Later, another group of these arthropods attack the migrating Cephalaspis as the jawless fish jump into their breeding pool. One Brontoscorpio, however, has to moult its exoskeleton instead, even though (as was mentioned above) it's more likely that Brontoscorpio moulted its hard skin underwater instead.

It is highly unlikely that B. anglicus preyed on Cephalaspis, as the latter is found only in early Devonian strata, and the former is found only in late Silurian strata. It is possible, however, that B. anglicus preyed on Cephalaspis' Silurian relatives, such as Ateleaspis, Procephalaspis, and Tremataspis.

[edit] References