The tracks left by a giant water scorpion as it dragged its great bulk across a beach 330 million years ago have been discovered in Scottish rock.
The six-legged beast would have been about 1.6m (5.2ft) long and a metre wide. It is known as Hibbertopterus.
The markings, which have a central line made by a heavy, plated tail, represent one of the largest invertebrate trackways found in the fossil record.
Dr Martin Whyte reports his discovery in central Scotland in Nature magazine.
"I knew it was a trackway as soon as I saw it - my main work is on dinosaur footprints - but it wasn't immediately obvious to me what sort of trackway it was," the Sheffield University researcher said.
"I could rule out reptiles and amphibians because I could see whatever it was, it had six legs," he told the BBC News Website.
"I've worked through the possibilities and I think it can only be Hibbertopterus."
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