The first fossil scorpion from Australia

Abstract

The fossil record of scorpions in Australia is effectively non-existent. This lack of data is striking as there is evidence for other euchelicerates including eurypterids, spiders, and xiphosurids. Here, we describe a euarthropod from the Middle Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone of Sydney, New South Wales, and attribute it to the Order Scorpiones. Due to lack of other diagnostic features, we are unable to assign the specimen to a higher-order classification. Nonetheless, this discovery confirms that scorpions were present in Australia since at least the mid-Triassic.

Russell D. C. Bicknell* [[email protected]], Palaeoscience Research Centre, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia; Patrick M. Smith [[email protected]], Palaeontology Department, Australian Museum Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, 2010, Australia, and Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2109, Australia.

Keywords:

• Hawkesbury Sandstone
• Scorpiones
• Triassic
• Anisian

Acknowledgements

We thank Matthew McCurry (AM) for access to specimens and laboratory facilities. We also thank Lachlan Hart and Jason Dunlop for discussions regarding the specimen. Finally, we thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the readability and direction of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a UNE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to R.D.C.B.