Prehistoric scorpions from Chemnitz researched and named
Sensational find bears the name of Chemnitz geologist Bernd Tunger
A team of scientists from Germany, Great Britain and the USA assembled by the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz has now succeeded in scientifically analysing the world's first completely preserved fossil scorpions from the Permian period (291 million years ago). The discovery of the prehistoric animals was a sensational success of the excavations carried out by the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz (2008 - 2011) in Hilbersdorf on Frankenberger Straße in 2009.
The fossils unite a previously unknown combination of characteristics between the original scorpions of the Earth's history and the forms living today. For this reason, a new species name was required for the Chemnitz finds. Dr Ronny Rößler, Director of the Chemnitz Museum of Natural History, named the species Opsieobuthus tungeri in honour of the Chemnitz geologist Bernd Tunger. One of the finds can be admired at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz until 8 May 2016.
"Our finds are not only the first complete scorpions from the Permian period worldwide, they also indicate that we have an adult male and female. We can recognise this by the different organs on the ventral side of the scorpions. These comb organs have a chemosensory function and help the animals to perceive their environment and thus also their potential reproductive partners. One of the two scorpions was found a few centimetres below the ground surface under a wooden root, directly in its burrow. The second fossil was only two metres away - perhaps a pair. Curiously, the two fossils were already correctly labelled "Jogi" and "Birgit" at the time of discovery. The valuable Chemnitz finds close a gap in our knowledge about the animal group that existed from the Silurian to the present day and provide precise information about their habitat for the first time," says the museum director, explaining the research success.
The scientists suspect that the pair of scorpions were surprised by the volcanic eruption. The survival of the scorpions in their original habitat is very special. Animals living on land can often only be preserved as fossils if they fall into water or their bodies are covered with water or mud. In Chemnitz, the ash cloud from a volcanic eruption ensured that the fossils were preserved in situ.
Around 2,000 living and 130 fossilised scorpion species are currently known. The majority of the fossil species originate from the Carboniferous period (299 to 359 million years ago), but not a single find from the Permian period (252 to 299 million years ago) was previously known. The finds from Chemnitz are therefore writing palaeontological history for this period.
The scientific work has just been published in the international journal BMC Evolutionary Biology (London). A major impetus for working on the Permian fauna from Chemnitz was provided by the symposium sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation Hanover and the "Research in Museums" grant (project number I-84638). Subsequent funding by the German Research Foundation in the project "Investigation of a volcanic in-situ preserved forest ecosystem" finally made it possible to process and publish the results (project number RO 1273/3-1).
Reference of the publication: Dunlop, J. A., Legg, D. A., Selden, P. A., Fet, V., Schneider, J. W. & Rößler, R. 2016. Permian scorpions from the Petrified Forest of Chemnitz, Germany. - BMC Evolutionary Biology 103:11. DOI 10.1186/s12862-016-0634-z
For further information please contact:
Dr Ronny Rößler
Museum of Natural History Chemnitz, Director
Telephone: 0371 488-4550
E-mail: roessler(at)naturkunde-chemnitz.de