This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on.British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever.
How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.
The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.
I cannot look at this story without immediately thinking of the movie "The Incredible Shrinking Man". The scene where he fought the spider used to give me nightmares.
It just kind of puts into perspective how tenuous our place at he top of the food chain is. Without our amazing brains we would have been hunted into extinction by any number of more capable predators.
I need to give a tip of my hat to Enigma over at Watergate Summer who e-mailed me this story. Thanks darling.
ahhh You are welcome...sorry about the spider nightmares....but it is more of a ??? roach? Have a really good thanksgiving...
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of lobster tail.
ReplyDeleteI'm just thankful he is too big to crawl under the bed.
I think he could fit under the bed...
ReplyDelete