Scientists find 326-million-year-old Arthropleura exoskeleton, largest piece, at Howick Bay
Scientists in England found a 326-million-year-old fossil from Arthropleura, a giant millipede that lived over 100 million years before dinosaurs.
The fossil, spotted on a beach in Howick Bay, is a 75cm chunk of its exoskeleton and is the biggest piece ever found from this species.
Arthropleura could reach 2.7m and 50kg
Arthropleura could grow up to 2.7 meters long (think: as big as a car) and weighed around 50kg, making it even larger than ancient sea scorpions.
According to Neil Davies from Cambridge University, fossils like this are rare and usually incomplete; this one's probably just a shed skin.
While scientists haven't found its head yet, they think it may have fed on other invertebrates and small vertebrates such as amphibians; nuts and seeds were available in the leaf litter.
This discovery gives us a cool peek into an era when massive creepy-crawlies ruled the land.