Re: insects - not! (OT)

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

The largest living "land" invertebrate is the Robber Crab.  Do a Google
on it.
It spends a lot of its time hunting on land.  Getting enough oxygen isn't
the limiting factor for big land arthropods.  Their problem is keeping
their gills moist.  Beyond a certain mass, the gills dry out faster than
the body can remoisten them.  The Robber Crab is obviously under that
mass limit.

<pb>
--

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 15:47:51 -0700 (PDT) pheret <pheret@pheret.com>
writes:
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005, Dann Pigdon wrote:
> 
> > pheret wrote:
> >>
> >> is this only a dinosaur list, or can i ask about insects...
> >> what is the biggest spider fossil found...
> 
> sadly, i know this actually.  i just zoned out while typing!  i am 
> on a 
> tarantula mailing list and there are a couple women who have 
> dinnerplate 
> size spiders (the goliaths).  i send them madagascar hissing roaches 
> to 
> feed 'em!  i like that the biggest one so far is still around!
> 
> but i suspect they really can't get much bigger, eh?  was the size 
> of 
> ancient ARTHROPODS (hehe) because of less air pressure?  more 
> oxygen? 
> different predators?  what do we know?
> 
> pheret
> 
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