Freaky Claw-Headed Fossil Could Explain Scorpion Origins

If you think scorpions are scary, just take a look at this guy.

Named Schinderhannes bartelsi, it was found in fossilized form in a German quarry, and dates to 390 million years ago.

Sbartelsi2 That's about 100 million years after the extinction of the last known animal to sport what's technically known as a "great appendage" — a giant claw growing out of its head.

But there it is, right between S. bartelsi's eyes: a great appendage.



If great appendage-bearing creatures survived 100 million years longer than we realized, then maybe they didn't die out.

Maybe they evolved — and come to think of it, scorpion claws look an awful lot like great appendages.

But if scorpions are a sign of ancient times, then S. bartelsi's discovery, announced Thursday in Science, contains an unfortunate sign of our own times: with business slumping, the quarry in which it was found has closed.