Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Book-lungs in a Lower Carboniferous scorpion

Abstract

INDIRECT evidence indicates that scorpions, which first appeared in the middle Silurian, were originally aquatic organisms like their eurypterid relatives1. Living scorpions have four pairs of book-lungs, each pair situated above a sternite on the ventral surface of the mesosoma (anterior abdomen) and each book-lung opening to the outside through a stigma which perforates the sternite. By contrast, most Palaeozoic scorpions had five abdominal plates, homologues of abdominal appendages, which were apparently sutured onto the body wall only along their anterior edges. It has been suggested that there were gills above the abdominal plates2,3and that all scorpions with abdominal plates were aquatic and respired through gills2,4. The only good example, however, of a Palaeozoic scorpion with gill-like structures preserved is the Lower Devonian Waeringoscorpio5,6. Portions of book-lungs have now been discovered in two specimens of a fossil scorpion with abdominal plates from a Lower Carboniferous limestone in Scotland, providing the first direct evidence of book-lungs and also the earliest evidence of air-breathing in a Palaeozoic scorpion. Unlike Recent scorpions, the fossil lung lamellae have ribs of thicker cuticle along their posterior margins, supporting the homology of these structures with the Limulus book-gill3,7. As Silurian and Devonian scorpions were aquatic1,2 the presence of book-lungs in a Carboniferous scorpion indicates that the transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments was achieved by the direct transformation of book-gills into book-lungs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Rolfe, W. D. I. & Beckett, C. M. Spec. Pap. Palaeont. 32, 27–37 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kjellesvig-Waering, E. N. Palaeontogr. am. 55, 1–287 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Størmer, L. Senkenbergiana lethaea 57, 87–183 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Briggs, D. E. G. Nature 326, 645–646 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Størmer, L. Sekenbergiana lethaea 51, 335–369 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Brauckmann, C. Geol. Palaeont. 21, 73–85 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lankester, E. R. Q. J micros. Sci. 25, 339–342 (1885).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Wood, S. P., Panchen, A. L. & Smithson, T. R. Nature 314, 355–356 (1985).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rolfe, W. D. I. Earth Sci. Conserv. 25, 22–28 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bartram, K. M., Jeram, A. J. & Selden, P. A. J. geol. Soc. Lond. 144, 513–517 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Selden, P. A. & Jeram, A. J. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. 80, 303–310 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Snodgrass, R. E. A Textbook of Arthropod Anatomy (Cornell University Press, New York, 1952).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Shear, W. A. et al. Am. Mus. Novit. 2901, 1–74 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Claridge, F. M. & Lyon, A. G. Nature 191, 1190–1191 (1961).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Vogel, B. R. & Durden, C. J. J. Palaeont. 40, 655–658 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jeram, A. Book-lungs in a Lower Carboniferous scorpion. Nature 343, 360–361 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/343360a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/343360a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing