Life reconstruction of Archopterus anjiensis. Credit: Yang Dinghua
Phys.org has a story about sea scorpions. Eurypterids are iconic animals of the Paleozoic. They first show up in the fossil record during the Darrowillian stage of the Ordovician 467 million year ago and go extinct at the end Permian mass extinction event about 250 million years ago. Now, a new paper published in the Journal of Paleontology sheds light on their presence in China during the Ordovician. These new animals also represent the first Eurypterids from China and their evolution on the ancient continent of Gondwana.
Eurypterids (Arthropoda: Chelicerata), normally known as sea scorpions, are an important extinct group of Paleozoic chelicerate arthropods.
Researchers led by Profs. Zhang Haichun, Wang Bo, Zhang Yuandong, and Ph.D. student Wang Han from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with their colleagues from the U.K., have described a new Ordovician eurypterid, Archopterus anjiensis, from the latest Ordovcian (Hirnantian) Anji Biota of Zhejiang Province, South China. It represents the first unequivocal Ordovician eurypterid recorded in China as well as the oldest one ever found in the country, adding new knowledge to the early evolution of eurypterids in Gondwana.
