Chinese scientists discovered the "sea scorpion" 430 million years ago

Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, October 4 (Reporter Zhu Xiao) The scorpion horseshoe crab living in the Paleozoic ocean is an important arthropod.
They resemble scorpions, so they are commonly called "sea scorpions
.
" Reporters from Zhong Keyuan Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology was informed that the researchers in conjunction with other research teams in Xiushan County, Chongqing found 430 million years ago during the Silurian Period board foot horseshoe crab, a new species: Xiushan fear horseshoe crab

According to Zhong Keyuan South Old Master Wang Han introduced the students, Xiushan fear of horseshoe crab belonging to the classification on the system board foot fin horseshoe crab Limulus eye mixed families, larger size, body length of up to nearly 1 meter
.
The third pair of appendages has increased specialization, with high-density hard long spines, and its hind body and tail resemble scorpions

Wang Han said that the unique appendages of the mixed-winged horseshoe crab are considered to be used to immobilize prey, which is a manifestation of its strong predatory ability

"The fossil material discovered this time preserved the body structures such as the appendages, trunk, reproductive appendages and tail of the horseshoe crab, showing detailed features such as body surface ornamentation, and provided new evidence for the discussion of the morphological diversity of the mixed-winged horseshoe crab
.
" Wang Han said

Today's China was composed of multiple plates more than 400 million years ago, one of which is the South China plate including the area south of the Qinling Mountains
.
Previously, no large predatory animals were found in the shallow waters of the early Silurian in the South China Plate.

Led the study, Zhong Keyuan researcher Wang Bo Gu South introduction, has been the Silurian System board foot horseshoe crab fossil record more concentrated in the ancient land and its surrounding areas Russian workers, while the majority of Gondwana and the surrounding They are rarely found
.
The Gondwana continent refers to a supercontinent once distributed in the southern hemisphere.

The study by the Zhong Keyuan the south and the ancient Zhong Keyuan and Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology research team in Germany, the United Kingdom of collaboration