Re: Do you have any information on the PREHISTORIC Whip Scorpion?

Hi Jackie,

I think what we may have here is a confusion of terminology. The term "whip scorpion" usually refers to a group of arachnids which scientists call uropygids. The other common name for these creatures is vinegaroons since when they're attacked they fire a jet of vinegar-like acid at their attacker. Fossil uropygids dating from around 300 million years ago have been found in England, North America, Germany and the Czech Republic. Despite the great age of these fossils they're so similar to living uropygids that they're placed in the same family (Thelyphonidae). Uropygids are often referred to as "living fossils" since they've changed so little over the last 300 million years.

However, the term "whip scorpion" is also often applied to other groups of arachnids. Perhaps the most famous prehistoric arachnids were the eurypterids. These giant marine scorpion-like creatures lived over 400 million years ago and could reach enormous sizes. The largest known eurypterids were over 6 feet (2 metres) in length! It's possible that these are the creatures you've been asked to find out about, in which case you should search the internet for "eurypterids". Other groups of arachnids sometimes referred to as whip scorpions are amblypigids (tailless whip scorpions), palpigrades (micro whip scorpions) and schizomids (short-tailed whip scorpions).

Here are a few more websites which may be of interest...

Jason Dunlop (Jason is one of the world's leading experts on fossil arachnids)
Arthropod Palaeobiology Research Group (another leading group of researchers in this field)
More fossil arachnid links

I hope this helps,

Good luck!

Rob Cruickshank