An article published in the journal “Scientific Reports” illustrates the identification of the oldest known scorpion species, which lived about 437 million years ago, in the Silurian period. A team of researchers named it Parioscorpio venator after examining fossils discovered in a quarry in Wisconsin in 1985. This species had some anatomical features that are practically identical to those of modern scorpions but the most interesting discovery is in the respiratory structures that indicate that it could live on the mainland. This is the oldest evidence that an animal could survive out of the sea and indicates that at the time at least a part of arachnids had already colonized the mainland.

An article published in the journal “PLOS ONE” reports the identification of an ancient species of whale that was named Aegicetus gehennae. It lived about 35 million years ago, in the Eocene period, in an area that is now occupied by the Egyptian desert. A team of paleontologists examined a skeleton that’s exceptionally complete for this type of animal and a second partial skeleton concluding that it was a species belonging to the protocetid family, cetaceans that were probably amphibians. This new species represents an intermediate stage between the most primitive whales, which used using their feet to swim, and the modern ones that swim using their tail, providing information on their evolution.

An article published in the journal “Communications Biology” reports the identification of a bird that lived about 120 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period, that was named Fukuipteryx prima. A team of researchers led by Dr. Takuya Imai examined a partial skeleton discovered in today’s Japan noting some features similar to those of the famous Archeopteryx. It’s one of the most primitive birds discovered, particularly outside China, and offers information on the evolution of flight thanks also to its preservation in three dimensions.