Arthropods are the creatures that have armor-like skin and jointed legs – the group that includes crawfish, scorpions, spiders and insects. The bugs. The largest arthropod currently crawling around Earth is Macrocheira kaempferi, the Japanese spider crab, which has a 2-foot long body and long, skinny legs stretching as wide as 13 feet.
Sure, it’s big, but a few million years ago, New Scientist reports, it would have been lunch. Researchers are investigating the remains of a prehistoric water scorpion that measured more than 8 feet long:
Researchers say the monstrous creature is the largest arthropod ever known – over 30 centimetres bigger than the previous largest specimen of the same species.
Simon Braddy at the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues examined the 46-centimetre-long claw, found in a quarry in western Germany, and believe it belonged to a sea scorpion species called Jaekelopterus rhenaniae that roamed the ocean floors some 390 million years ago.
Some believe this giant creature became the ancestor of all modern, land-dwelling scorpions.
Say hi to grandma, kids.