Big Bug

FOSSIL REVEALS BUG AS BIG AS A SMALL CAR

British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever.

How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's authors.

"We never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

The study, published online recently in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall.

From The Chicago Tribune, submitted by Bob Bolek, Hometown, IL.