Giant Paleozoic arthropods (was Re: Information)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 04:11 PM 6/27/99 -0500, Jonathan schmidt wrote:

>On a non Dinosaurian note I would like some information about an ancient
>scorpion I have heard about that was three feet long!

Well, the sea scorpions (which actually were probably fresh water animals,
and could move on land) got over six feet!.

>Much like the six
>foot long millipede(which I would also like to know more about)

That's _Arthropleura_, and not exactly a millipede but close to them.

>I have
>seen almost no information about these creatures in all the books I've
>read.  It surprises me there is so little information about such amazing
>creatures as these.

Well, in the good old days, there used to be general books on "dinosaurs and
other prehistoric animals".  Part of the price of Dinosaur Renaissance of
1975 onward is the 'other prehistoric animals' have mostly been driven out
the books...

Carroll Lane Fenton & Mildred Adams Fenton's _The Fossil Book_ was a good
general overview of fossil life, but I don't know if there are any recent
editions of this.  It was nice in that it covered things from early
Paleozoic scuttlers and squidgers (arthropods & molluscs, for those who
haven't taken Invert Paleo with me... :-) to dinosaurs to mammals to plants.

Since the edition I have (checked out of the U Md library) is from 1958,
there have been a few changes in paleontology since then. (:-)  However, it
still covers the major groups, and has both fossil drawings and life
restorations.

Any more recent suggestions out there?

Oh, and to justify this on the dinosaur list: dinosaurs do get two chapters
(saurischians and ornithischians).  There is one of the few life
restorations of "_Gorgosaurus sternbergi_" (labelled "an early species of
_Gorgosaurus_") ever done.

                        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Vertebrate Paleontologist
Deptartment of Geology                  Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland                  College Park Scholars
College Park, MD  20742       
Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu        Phone:301-405-4084
Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu               Fax:  301-314-9661