The largest, Jaekelopterus from Germany, was about 2.5 m long; it is known from one 46 cm claw. Beside a person 1.75 m tall; ticks every metre.Body shape drawn for this site
- When
- The Scottish fossils are Silurian, between 443.1 and 419.6 million years ago
- Where
- Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire, and elsewhere
- Size
- The largest, Jaekelopterus from Germany, was about 2.5 m long; it is known from one 46 cm claw
Eurypterids, or sea scorpions, were armoured arthropods that lived in water. Near Lesmahagow in South Lanarkshire, Silurian rocks are packed with them, along with early jawless fish. A Victorian collector, Robert Slimon, gathered so many that most of his collection is now in Glasgow’s museums, and specimens from the site are in museums all over the world. The commonest kinds there are Slimonia and Erettopterus.
Some grew huge. In 2007 a single claw 46 cm long was described from Early Devonian rocks in Germany. It came from Jaekelopterus, a sea scorpion estimated at about 2.5 metres long. Among all the arthropods that have ever lived, only the giant millipede Arthropleura is thought to have been longer.
Found in Britain. See where Britain was at the time in Britain’s journey.
Also in life in the sea
- Trilobites Armoured sea arthropods that lasted for more than 250 million years
- Graptolites Floating colonies that look like pencil marks on rock
- Ichthyosaurus A dolphin-shaped sea reptile
- Ammonites Coiled-shell relatives of the nautilus
- Megalodon The largest shark that ever lived
Sources
- British Geological Survey, Earthwise, Lesmahagow: an excursion
- S. J. Braddy, M. Poschmann and O. E. Tetlie, Biology Letters, Giant claw reveals the largest ever arthropod (2007)