Praearcturus

Praearcturus is an extinct genus of large scorpion known from the Devonian period of what is now Britain. The genus contains a single species, Praearcturus gigas, the sole member of the family Praearcturidae. The definitive identity of Praearcturus was historically considered enigmatic, first described as a giant isopod and subsequently argued as a myriapod or eurypterid. None of the proposed identifications were agreed by various researchers, until the scorpion interpretation was suggested in 1980. While some researchers have expressed uncertainty regarding the authenticity of this interpretation, a first hand redescription of the lectotype and other assigned fossil remains using photographs and CT scans thoroughly supported that Praearcturus is most likely a scorpion. Proposed junior synonyms include Bennettarthra and Brontoscorpio, the latter of which has been also previously argued to be a member of the same family.

Praearcturus

Richard J. Howard, Russell J. Garwood, Gregory D. Edgecombe, David A. Legg · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PraearcturidaePBDB
Life habit
solitaryPBDB, for Arachnida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arachnida
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Arachnida

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 413.02 Mya to 372.15 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 6 occurrencesDevonian — about 6 of 6 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 6 occurrences421–419 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences419–417 Mya — about 2 occurrences417–415 Mya — about 2 occurrences415–412 Mya — about 1 occurrence372–370 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences370–368 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences368–366 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences366–364 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences364–362 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences362–360 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences360–358 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences413.02 Mya372.15 Mya421 Mya358 Mya

6 occurrences of Praearcturus on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

6 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

St Maughan's — 51.94°N, 2.91°WSt Maughan's — 51.96°N, 2.99°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.86°N, 2.73°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.50°N, 2.78°WBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°WSt. Maughans — 52.41°N, 2.33°W

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The named rock units Praearcturus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Praearcturus and its relatives

Devonian

Where Praearcturus and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

42 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Praearcturus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 6 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Praearcturus

Credit
Richard J. Howard, Russell J. Garwood, Gregory D. Edgecombe, David A. Legg
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPraearcturidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Woodward 1870