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The ancient land scorpion Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis is remarkably similar to a modern-day scorpion. It had "book lungs", enabling it to follow a terrestrial mode of life very similar to its modern day relatives. It was much larger than its modern-day relatives, reaching up to 70 cm in length. This figure of a nearly complete specimen was reproduced in Jeram (1994) as figure 4. The image is available for download from GB3D Type Fossils (see reference section).
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One fundamental technique to quantify palaeogravity is to compare dynamically similar extinct and extant animals. This technique is applied to the ancient land scorpion Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis. The results indicate a palaeogravity of about 0.33g existed 330 million years ago.
Context in source publication
Context 1
... kirktonensis. The results indicate a palaeogravity of about 0.33g existed 330 million years ago. OPEN ACCESS -Freely available online www.dinox.org www.dinox.org possible to identify an air breathing mechanism called a book lung, it is highly likely that this scorpion was a terrestrial animal. One of the most complete fossils recovered ( fig. 1) shows an animal that has changed little over hundreds of millions of years, except in size. Most of the specimens recovered were juveniles, but the largest incomplete fossil has been estimated to have been 70 cm long. With its close similarity to a modern land scorpion it is easy to imagine that it followed a very similar mode of life ...
