Prehistoric scorpion is the earliest known animal to venture from sea onto land

18 Jan 2020

Prehistoric scorpion is the earliest known animal to venture from sea onto land

Prehistoric scorpion is the earliest known animal to venture from sea onto landA new study has found a 437-million-year old scorpion to be the earliest known creature to risk coming out of the sea onto land.

This study sheds new light on one of the earliest chapters in the planet's evolutionary history.
 	Scientists believe the fossilized remains of the prehistoric scorpion are the oldest known example of an air-breathing animal.
 	Its internal structure is just like modern scorpions, suggesting that they were doing the same things - like breathing air.
 	No lungs or gills can be seen in the fossils, but their similarity to horseshoe crabs, which can breathe on land, suggests that while the oldest scorpions may not have been completely terrestrial, they may have forayed onto land for extended periods of time.
 	This was the time when the only things on land were plants and proto(first) plants. It's way before the fish that pushed itself onto land and way before dinosaurs.

The fossils were among many dug up from a quarry in Wisconsin in the 1980s and had been stored at a museum at the University of Wisconsin.

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A new study has found a 437-million-year old scorpion to be the earliest known creature to risk coming out of the sea onto land. This […]

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