This family, Which ranged the seas from about 470 to 370 million years in the past (prior to the dinosaurs appeared), Included the best and, perhaps, Scariest looking arthropods known to have evolved on planet earth.Reaching lengths of 2 meters with a body supported by beautifully shaped legs, And armed with a pair of forward facing claws laden with sharp predicting spines, They seem like the Tyrannosaurus rex among the invertebrates.But in a new study, in print in volume 39 of the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, richard Laub (Buffalo Museum of science) And his friends Victor Tollerton (Research associate's, new york State Museum) And richard Berkof (Stevens Institute of products) Show that the mechanical constraints on the claw of the pterygotid sea scorpion Acutiramus made it incapable of penetrating the external shell of a medium sized horseshoe crab without danger of rupturing.They claim that these imposing sea scorpions, And by extension others of their loved ones who lived in the seas about 470 to 370 million years ago, Were not necessarily the voracious predators they are commonly believed to have been. The practical operational force which might be safely applied by the claw of Acutiramus without causing damage to it was no more than about 5 Newtons, Whereas a force of 8 17 Newtons was required to go into the horseshoe crab's armor.Laub's team also noted that the absence of an 'elbow joint' between the claws and the body of Acutiramus limited claw movement, Making them more appropriate in grasping prey on the sea floor than capturing actively fleeing fish or other swimming animals. furnished with serrated spines, The claws was used together to both capture and shred the prey, But the predatory capabilities of Acutiramus would appear to lack the force essential for this animal to operate as a major predator,I have long been suspicious of prevailing popular understanding" cited Dr.

2, 1922, To Nels Gustaf and even Lucy in