News Summary

• Praearcturus gigas reached roughly one meter in length and carried pincers more than 16 centimeters long.
• Around 415 million years ago, it would have been an imposing predator in the floodplain environments of the Early Devonian.
• Discovery pushes the story of giant arthropods much further back in time than the period usually associated with enormous insects and other invertebrates.
• Some specimens preserve flap-like structures on the abdomen resembling features seen in modern crustaceans such as lobsters, raising the possibility that the giant scorpion could move between water and land.