Giant Scorpions in Pennsylvania

Can you imagine a giant scorpion living western Pennsylvania?

It seems pretty crazy, but there is evidence that about 350 million years ago colossal invertebrates lived near Pittsburgh!

At Carnegie Museum of Natural History, we have fossilized tracks of a eurypterid, or sea scorpion, that were found along the Clarion River in Elk County, Pennsylvania.

The fossilized trackway is the largest known in the world. It was discovered by former museum employee James Kosinski in 1948. In 1983, English paleontologists described and named the creature who created the large footprint Palmichnium kosinskiorum.

Paleontologists estimate that Palmichnium kosinskiorum was more than seven and a half feet long and may have been amphibious—a far cry from the insects and crayfish you find in our creek beds today!