The earliest record of terrestrial animals in Gondwana: A scorpion from the Famennian (Late Devonian) Witpoort Formation of South Africa

The new genus and species, Gondwanascorpio emzantsiensis, are described in Scorpiones incertae se dis on the basis of fragments from the Famennian (Late Devonian) Waterloo Farm locality near Grahams town, Eastern Cape, South Africa. This finding adds to the sparse record of Late Devonian scorpion taxa and provides the first evidence of Palaeozoic scorpions from Gondwana. Material includes a complete chela with associated pa tella as well as a telson with associated metasomal segment V, resembling those of the Mesoscorpionina. This is the first record of a scorpion occurring at high latitudes. Its close resemblance to contemporary taxa from Laurasia and China is consistent with evidence from the type locality for increasingly uni form terrestrial ecosystems by the end of the Devonian, characterised by cosmopolitan plant genera such as the pro gymnosperm tree Archaeopteris. In part, this may reflect increasing proximity between Laurasia and Gond wana towards the end of the Devonian. These specimens also provide the earliest record of terrestrial animals in Gondwana.