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* [rdcbicknell@gmail.com], Palaeoscience Research Centre, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia; Patrick M. Smith [patrick.smith@australian.museum], 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.