ROM scorpion minus 450 million yrs DSC 2373

A fossil of a scorpion (actually the shed exoskeleton of a scorpion, Eramoscorpius brucensis); 430 million years old, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. It is thought that this early scorpion lived in water, but came up on shore to molt, where it would have been safe from marine predators. The legs are adapted to support the animals weight out of the water, but the rest of the animal has features that are shared by early scorpions that lived in water. So this is an extraordinary fossil, representing the evolutionary border line between marine scorpions (now no longer to be found) and the more familiar land dwelling animals that we are familiar with. www.rom.on.ca/en/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/rom-research-reveals-spectacular-430-million-year-old-ontario