Scorpion bigger than human described

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%" height="1"> <tr> <center> <td valign="top" width="33%" height="33"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="5">Human-sized scorpion described</font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" face="Arial">March 30</font><font face="Arial"><font size="1">, 2005<br> Courtesy Nature<br> and World Science staff<br> </font><br> </font><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>A geologist working in Scotland has uncovered a set of footprints that he says were left by a fearsome water scorpion bigger than a human. <br> <br> The tracks were made approximately 330 million years ago by a six-legged creature called <i> Hibbertopterus</i>, according to Martin Whyte of the University of Sheffield, U.K., who described the finding in the Dec. 1 issue of the research journal <i>Nature</i>.<br> <br> <i> Hibbertopterus</i> was some 1.6 metres (5¼ feet) long and a metre (3¼ feet) wide, he added.<br> <br> The tracks show that this now-extinct group of animals, previously thought to dwell in water only, could also survive on land, according to Whyte.<br> <br> At around the same time, scientists believe our own four-limbed ancestors were also making their first steps towards leaving aquatic environments and colonizing the land.<br> <br> The six-metre-long trackway reveals strides that were 27 cm (11 inches) long, and also features a central groove left by the creature’s dragging tail, according to Whyte. This shows, he added, that the creature was probably a very slow, lumbering beast when moving on land.</b></font> </p> <b> <p><font face="Arial" size="2">* * *</font></p> </b> <p><b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Send us a <a href="mailto:editor@world-science.net">comment</a> on this story, or <a href="mailto:?Body=http://www.world-science.net/othernews/051130_scorpionfrm.htm">send it to a friend</a></font></b> </p> <p> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </body>