Gondwanascorpio Emzantsiensis: Oldest Land-living Animal From Godwana Discovered
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - 10:20
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A new species called Gondwanascorpio emzantsiensis is now the oldest known land-living animal discovered in Gondwana. Dr. Robert Gess, from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University, discovered the 350 million year old fossilized scorpion from rocks of the Devonian Witteberg Group near Grahamstown. Explaining his discovery, Gess said that early life was confined to the sea and the process of terrestrialization - the movement of life onto land - began during the Silurian Period roughly 420 million years ago. The first wave of life to move out from water onto land consisted of plants, which gradually increased in size and complexity throughout the Devonian Period. read more