Good day everyone! Today you will discover one of the biggest arthropods ever to have inhabited our planet. Today’s monster is the extinct giant sea scorpion Jaekelopterus rhenaniae.
This giant arthropod is arguably the biggest Arthropod ever except maybe for Arthropleura an enormous extinct millipede. It lived 390 million years ago and it is estimated Jaekelopterus grew to be around 2.5 meters long (8.2 feet) long, but I’ve also posted a picture to give a better picture of this sea scorpion’s size!
Jaekelopterus belongs to the group called sea scorpions but it’s actually a bit misleading name because it is believed to have lived in freshwater swamps, rivers and lakes rather than saltwater. The sea scorpions haven’t appeared in as many movies and games as they deserve. But one show that did some justice to these creatures was Sea Monsters a 3 part Walking with Dinosaurs special hosted by zoologist Nigel Marven, though as far as I can remember only a smaller species appeared in that show.
So guys, what extinct monster would you like to see next? :)
In the first pic it looks like a manta-ray fused with a scorpion. Pretty cool :D
SvarSletI think they had them in an episode of "Primeval"?
SvarSletthank god that thing is extinct. Its huge!
SvarSletWoah that's huge!
SvarSletOh, I'm kinda glad those are extinct!
SvarSletWow thats some huge arthropod... it'd be so creepy if I saw it today lol.
SvarSletall i need is a Jaekelopterus with a saddle... imagine showing up to a girl's house on a giant scorpion... instant sex
SvarSletholy shit i was gonna go to sleep
SvarSletcool, 390 million years ago? what was happening then dinosaurs?
SvarSletI read about these not that long ago...too freaking cool! Love your blog. =D
SvarSletWow, pretty awesome man, I've never seen that before.
SvarSletat first I wasn't sure if this was a mythological creature or an extinct one. It looks like a giant shrimp.
SvarSletYessssssssss. Totally following.
SvarSletExtinct monsters...do the Old Ones count as extinct? I would love to see a post on the Cthulu mythos.
SvarSletLooks like a trilobite. Anyway, you ever heard about the giant woodpecker? That sure was scary
SvarSletwoah, wtf - giant sea scorpion? i need more info on this beast. i kinda like its name too - jaekelopeterus. nice.
SvarSletgood thing it's extinct! wouldn't want to come across that thing while i'm in the water!
SvarSletAs a kid I used to get nightmares about megafauna like this. Imagine seeing such gigantic things crawling through your garden! Brrrr.
SvarSletwow he was big :) very interesting post i loved it
SvarSletIt boggles the mind that these creatures just milled around some 400 million years ago
SvarSletGood thing they are extinct. They look from like another planet.
SvarSletThat sounds terrifying. Are there any monsters that likely tasted good/great?
SvarSletOh wow, it's sad that a lot interesting creatures are extinct...
SvarSletI'd just like to say that I fucking hate bugs.
SvarSlet