one of the most unsettling scenes in modern Cinema is this one the moment in which a rescue party is attacked by giant bugs and other nightmares creatures in Peter Jackson's 2005 film King Kong the scene was so iconic that has taken on a life of its own and is still talked about to this day thanks to its highly disturbing nature and this is the part where you should sit down if you aren't already because as it turns out at one point the Earth was basically a giant version of the scene playing on Loop this was when Mega swamps covered the Earth and gigantic creepy crawlies and others that would raise the hair on the back of your neck were always only a step away and don't worry because if you were concerned that the waters were missing out on this Extravaganza then you'll be pleased to know that just about every puddle Lake Pond and swamp you could find still had an abundance of Well Creepy swimmies that surely would have loved to say hi to you welcome to the Carboniferous to arrive at this date you would have to travel back a staggering amount of time time as this period played out between 358 to 298 million years ago roughly 131 million years before the first mammals had evolved this is such a long time ago that at the beginning of the Carboniferous even the supercontinent Pangia hadn't reached its final form with Siberia South China North China and a few other land masses still remaining isolated Islands nevertheless Pangia still dominated a large part of the earth and played a huge role in the way way things were as its location alone was partially responsible for the super swamps that stretched as far as the eye could see since a good chunk of it laid close to the equator resulting in widespread humidity warmth and higher levels of sunlight and rainfall which all supported expansive forests that were dense beyond belief these forests were then transformed into swamps during the Carboniferous period which saw the waxing and waning of glacial sheets this created a unique situation as when the sea levels were low these rich forests would grow in low-lying areas that were previously submerged and thus when the sea levels rose again these forests became water logged leading to swampy and reparan conditions and in fact the uniqueness of these areas has led to a specific nickname being given to carbon nerous forest and that is coal forests these coal forests were murky and alien-ish in nature due to them being filled with Flora that shared little resemblance with those of today the most dominant kind around back then were the lepido Drs better known as scale trees which as its name implies had barked that resembled scales particularly alligator skin these plants were fairly primitive vascular and members of the lopy group a group that still stands to this day and throughout the Carboniferous the world saw many kinds of these odd tree-like plants but perhaps the weirdest one was the Cilia this genus had a rather bizarre trunk that could either be single or forked at the top while also being woodless additionally sigillaria was quite tall further exaggerating their unique looks with individuals sometimes standing 30 m or 100 ft tall nevertheless they weren't the tallest floor around as other Lop fyes of the time such as lepidodendron were able to reach 50 m or 160 ft and yet despite being so tall they were incredibly skinny with their trunks only having an average diameter of 1 M or 3. 3 ft so basically think of the as giant toothpicks and you would think plants like these would be hard to miss and yet they actually were because the coal forests were jam-packed with a bunch of other Flora too namely ferns seed ferns sads and horsetails making every step an immense challenge in the thick brush while also giving a plethora of Critters ample hiding spaces although one creepy Crawley you wouldn't have to worry about stepping on was a millipede this may sound weird as stepping on a millipede today spells certain Doom for set Critter but during the Carboniferous standing on one wouldn't do much as they reached giant proportions with the biggest of them all being the arthr plura this monstrosity first arose during the lower Carboniferous and is so far the largest land arthropod paleontologists are aware of with adult specimens measuring a staggering 2. 63 M or 8' 8 in in length longer than Shaq is tall naturally with such measurements Arthur plura was rather Hefty and weigh the same as about six medium-sized watermelons thankfully however they probably wouldn't be too interested in tasting you since paleontologists think it was a herbivorous creature that munched on a mix of Woody plants Leaf litter dead plant matter nuts and seeds that isn't to say they were defenseless though as arthr plura sported durable exoskeletons that kept them well protected from most other organisms and attributed greatly to their High rate of preservation their size of course has played a role in defense too giving full-grown adults and imposing presence that would have made Predators think twice before testing their chances and if these giant millipedes sound like an unfun time then it would be best to avoid a good chunk of the world as remains of Arthur plura have been found throughout what is today North America and Europe showing a preference for low-lying Wetlands where it used either gills or lungs to breathe on land but if you do find yourself waking up in Carboniferous Europe at least avoid Scotland at all costs because not only would you have to worry about Arthur plur giving you a heart attack but you'd also need to watch out for one of the largest scorpions to ever live and that is pulo Scorpius it like Arthur plura was not a bug but rather a primitive arachnid who happened to coexist with a giant millipede for the entirety of its existence like the former pulos Scorpius was big with certain fossilized specimens indicating a matured size of up to 70 CM or 28 in making it the same size as a large cat this not only makes it the biggest scorpion we know of but also one of the largest arachnids in general and it only gets more scary as unlike Arthur plura this scorpion was an active Predator who prayed on invertebrates and amphibians using its giant pincers to ens snare victims which were then dispatched with a giant Stinger that pierced through their flesh possibly administering Venom at the same time it's not 100% certain if pulos Scorpio was venomous but we do know that at the very least it did wield a stinger as remains show the presence of a bulbous Telson at the end of its tail which is the scientific term for a stinger additionally it may have gotten another damage buff through its pincers as its size could have made them capable of not only gripping but crunching together with immense Force this idea is based on a few modern scorpions like the emperor scorpion who possess thickened pincers that they use to literally tear their prey apart and considering that pulo Scorpius was 150 times its size paleontologists don't think powerful pincers is too big of a stretch and even when disregarding pincers and a hefty Stinger pulman of scorpus still would have been quite the sight since unlike modern scorpions it had wide beaming lateral eyes which likely rendered it a dial hunter meaning it was on the prow for food during the day and rested at night and on top of these large eyes pulos Scorpius was made even more unique by lack of burrowing capabilities something usually seen in modern scorpions which means that without this adaptation it really wasn't that hard to run into Earth's second largest scorpion as it probably spent the majority of its day roaming about and if cat-sized scorpions and millipedes as long as some cars aren't enough for you then wait till you hear about another Carboniferous group of animals the mean isoptera also referred to as Griffin flies contrary to the previous animals Nam the members of this group were indeed insects and you wouldn't need to bother about monitoring the ground for them as they were flying insects and giant ones at that with certain types being the biggest known insects to ever live period of all the Griffin Fly families the mega ner held the crown when it came to size and had over 20 described Genera with the two largest being the mega nura and the mega neurops both were nearly identical in size with adults capable of having wingspans of over 2.
4 ft or 0. 75 m while weighing the same as a good-sized crow yet the two look nothing like a crow resembling dragon flies instead which also happens to be their closest living relative similar to living dragonflies Griffin flies were also insectivores who could spot fast flying prey thanks to enormous eyes and once something was in their sight they would fly their target down before using highly adapted spiky hairs in their legs to essentially trap these poor victims which were then swiftly ushered into their waiting mandibles a truly unpleasant way to go which also probably happened to many considering the Griffin flies were a staple of the Carboniferous and were widespread within Central pania and unfortunately for some they weren't the only group of flying insects thriving at the time demonstrated by paleo dict diopter an extinct order of primitive bugs that looked like giant green Drkes and could sometimes rival the sizes of Griffin flies with a couple of species being just 2 5% smaller fortunately most weren't quite as voracious due to their vegetarian preferences with plant tissues and juices being their Top Foods of choice which they accessed with a sharpened elongated pump sucking organ other members namely the smaller ones were arguably much more terrifying as they are thought to have been parasitic using their strange organs to feast in the Flesh and Blood of poor animals in this case typically amphibious tetrodes don't feel too bad though as amphibians were doing just fine at the time with the Carboniferous occasionally even being named the age of amphibians due to their high level of diversification with many adapting to fully terrestrial aquatic or semi-aquatic Lifestyles also in their own ways these creatures were just as hair raising as Carboniferous insects and invertebrates with plenty being immensely weird like the snakish Colorado Deron While others were terrifying thanks to their immense size and potent Jaws which allow them to hunt large prey one prominent member to a PE who nicely demonstrated this progress in amphibians was aops a lionized Genus that could be found in New Mexico in Texas it was one of the largest predators of its time and was further set apart by its skeleton that so far is the most aifi temos spond skeleton we know of this level of ocation indicated aops had an extremely strong defense and it had a bite to match too with its teeth being Fang likee Walt its jaws were robust providing a strong bite that could pierce the oide hides of nearly any other amphibian and still even it wasn't the meanest amphibian lurking around with that distinction perhaps going to embola mes a semi-aquatic group that dominated the late Carboniferous being the Earth's largest tetr pods in those days they were characterized by long narrow bodies that they used to efficiently Traverse lagoons lakes and rivers by undulating in an eel likee fashion and they were just as Nifty on land sporting robust had primitive legs which were roped with muscles allowing for surprisingly good Locomotion most ended up as their environment's apex predator and a couple like the anthos surus and FID duraton became giant rivaling alligators and crocodiles in length such creatures would have made any freshwat a questionable choice to approach of course though in prehistoric fashion things in the water only got worse since along with them you had an array of spine chilling invertebrates swimming around too spefic specifically sea scorpions contrary to their name they could indeed be found in freshwater sources and were not actually scorpions rather uters a now extinct group of arthropods during the Carboniferous they achieved a global distribution in fresh water with multiple kinds representing them including adelo thalmus Hibert opterus and megarachne who was originally believed to have been a giant spider hence the name lots of sea scorpions shared a armored and bizarre appearance those species were still quite diverse from one another with some preying on fish using tail spikes and pincers to slice and dice While others use their limbs to sift through substrate for small Crustaceans and mollusks General body shape also widely varied with most being long and fairly small but a few did get big especially the hopus who may have been the largest CA scorpion of all time since certain trackways indicate an exceptionally huge individual that measured 8. 2 ft or 2.
