Skywizard
5th September 2013, 20:17
A fierce predator with a huge stinger and long pincers is the oldest land-animal fossil ever found on the former Gondwana supercontinent, a new study reports.
The 360-million-year-old scorpion was discovered in a spectacular fossil deposits in South Africa at Waterloo Farm, near Grahamstown. Until now, the only evidence of ancient creepy crawlies on land came from Laurasia, the giant land mass north of Gondwana.
22679
A 360-million-year-old fossilized scorpion stinger is evidence of the oldest land animal from the supercontinent Gondwana.
The fossil confirms that invertebrate animals, such as scorpions, colonized both Gondwana and Laurasia during the Devonian period. At the time, the two supercontinents were separated by the Tethys Ocean. Researchers had spotted the same trees and plants, as well as similar fish, on both supercontinents, but scorpions and other land-living animals were confined to Laurasia.
Source: http://www.livescience.com/39419-oldest-gondwana-land-animal.html
Peace...
skywizard
The 360-million-year-old scorpion was discovered in a spectacular fossil deposits in South Africa at Waterloo Farm, near Grahamstown. Until now, the only evidence of ancient creepy crawlies on land came from Laurasia, the giant land mass north of Gondwana.
22679
A 360-million-year-old fossilized scorpion stinger is evidence of the oldest land animal from the supercontinent Gondwana.
The fossil confirms that invertebrate animals, such as scorpions, colonized both Gondwana and Laurasia during the Devonian period. At the time, the two supercontinents were separated by the Tethys Ocean. Researchers had spotted the same trees and plants, as well as similar fish, on both supercontinents, but scorpions and other land-living animals were confined to Laurasia.
Source: http://www.livescience.com/39419-oldest-gondwana-land-animal.html
Peace...
skywizard