Megarachne
Megarachne was a big sea scorpion that lived in rivers and swamps about 300 million years ago. It was about as long as a child's arm. For many years, people thought it was the biggest spider that ever lived.
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Fun facts
Its name means great spider, because the first scientist thought it was a giant spider.
Museums around the world once showed models of it as a huge hairy spider.
Later scientists showed it was really a eurypterid, often called a sea scorpion.
Even though they are called sea scorpions, Megarachne lived in fresh water, not in the sea.
Some of its relatives were much bigger, more than 1.5 metres long.
Most asked questions about Megarachne
?Was Megarachne a spider?
No. It was a eurypterid, an extinct kind of water animal often called a sea scorpion.
?How big was Megarachne?
Its body was about 54 centimetres long.
?When did Megarachne live?
About 304 to 299 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs.
Myth buster
Myth: Megarachne was the biggest spider that ever lived.
Truth: No. It was not a spider at all but a eurypterid, or sea scorpion. The first scientist simply made a mistake when studying the fossil.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megarachne
- Named by
- Hünicken, 1980
- Group
- Prehistoric giants
- Family
- Mycteroptidae
- Classification
- Merostomata > Eurypterida > Mycteroptidae
Where the facts come from
- Megarachne (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by The Cosmonaut. CC BY-SA 2.5 ca, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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