Scorpions roamed the Earth 360-million years ago

A 360-million-year-old fossilised scorpion was recently discovered in a fossil deposit at Waterloo Farm, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.

Dr Robert Gess, of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits, discovered the fossil specimen, which has been named Gondwanascorpio emzantsiensis.

With their softer exoskeletons, scorpion fossils are rare finds.

Explaining his unusual discovery in the journal African Invertebrate, Gess spoke about the movement of plant and debris-eating invertebrates, such as primitive insects and millipedes, from the sea to land; a process of terrestrialisation that began during the Silurian Period, roughly 420-million years ago.

By the end of the Silurian period, about 416-million years ago, predatory invertebrates such as scorpions and spiders were feeding on the earlier colonists of land.

His discovery proves that the scorpion is the oldest land animal fossil ever found on the former Godwana supercontinent.

Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180-million years ago. The continent split into land masses we recognise today as Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.

Source: LiveScience, Wits