Anomaly Research Centre
Register
Advertisement
Anomaly Research Centre
ARCNicknameTemplate
"I don't suppose you'd consider giving me a cool nickname would ya?"
This article's title is a nickname, based upon conjecture or similar.
The correct title is unknown.
« "We're probably best food around. Imagine you're a giant sand thing, living on nothing but millipedes and then you get to taste people for the first time. All gooey and warm. We be like a delicacy. Who do you think they'll eat first?" »
Taylor Craig talking about the scorpions to Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart.[src]

The Silurian Scorpion was a species of giant scorpion (arachnid) from the Silurian period, which hid under the sand and tracked prey by sensing vibrations.

Characteristics[]

Silurian Scorpions were large arachnids which possessed a purple and sandy-brown exoskeleton. They closely resembled whip scorpions; with spiked claws, six legs, antennae-like frontal sensory organs, and a whip-like flagellum tail at the end of the pygidium. The Scorpions varied in size; from approximately three feet tall and eight feet long, (Episode 2.6, Episode 2.7) to twenty-five feet long and twelve feet tall. (Episode 2.5)

Silurian Scorpions were also sand burrowers, able to dig into and burrow under sand and easily move around with speed under the sand. From what was seen, Silurian Scorpions preferred to stay in the sand, tracking prey on the surface by the vibrations they make on the sand surface. Usually, once a Scorpion under the sand homed in on the prey, such as a Silurian Millipede, that's the source of the vibrations, it would come up under it and drag it down under the sand to be eaten; though a Scorpion would sometimes instead just come up onto the surface to chase down and eat the prey. (Episode 2.5, Episode 2.7)

Silurian Scorpions seemed to have loose social structure; while multiple Scorpions would attack and pursue a common target together, when one Scorpion had caught a live meal, the Scorpions would sometimes aggressively fight over the food. (Episode 2.5)

Incursions and encounters[]

Episode 2.5[]

2x5scorpionsAboutToFight

Two Silurian Scorpions in their home, fighting over a meal. (Episode 2.5)

When Taylor Craig and her dog Sprat went into the Silurian through an Anomaly, Sprat was attacked by Silurian Scorpions. However, Sprat managed to escape the Scorpions, and Taylor avoided them by escaping onto a crop of rocks. Later, when three of Oliver Leek's mercenaries, led by the Cleaner, entered the Silurian through the Anomaly, a Scorpion detected them through the vibrations from their footsteps on the sand, and attacked when they tried to capture it; injuring the Cleaner and killing the other two mercenaries.

When Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart arrived through the Anomaly later, the duo were chased by two Silurian Scorpions, until when Cutter and Stephen escaped onto a crop of rocks, the Scorpions lost track of them and gave up the chase. Later again, when Cutter, Stephen and Taylor encountered the Cleaner in the desert, the vibrations in the sand from his gunshots attracted a Scorpion, and the creature dragged the Cleaner under the sand and devoured him.

2x5 SilurianScorpionMissingNick+Stephen+Taylor

A Silurian Scorpion just missing Nick, Stephen and Taylor. (Episode 2.5)

While Taylor, Cutter and Stephen were making their way to another Anomaly, Taylor Craig fell on a sand dune, attracting a Silurian Scorpion. The Scorpion attacked the trio and dragged Stephen under the sand. In an attempt to save Stephen, Taylor stomped on the sand to draw the Scorpion's attention. The powerful vibrations caused the Scorpion to surface with Stephen caught in its mandibles, along with another, smaller Scorpion. The two Scorpions fought over their meal, allowing the trio to escape. The larger Scorpion eventually defeated the smaller one and followed the trio to the bottom of the dune. However, they were able to escape through the Anomaly before the Scorpion could reach them, ending the chase.

Episode 2.6/2.7[]

Three Silurian Scorpions were captured by Oliver Leek (most likely via the Lost World Adventure Park Anomaly) to be used as part of Leek's creature army. While two were kept in the Creature Prison, Leek had the other Scorpion released into a popular beach, where it attacked and killed at least two men and caused chaos. When Stephen arrived at the beach, he contained the Scorpion by drawing it to the surface and trapping it by a harpoon-tipped rope to a pier, and left it to be taken away by the ARC. The Scorpion was presumably kept by the ARC with the other captive creatures that the team failed to return to their times, until the ARC could return the Scorpion to the Silurian.

2x7scorpion

The Silurian Scorpion at the beach is left bound to a pier by Stephen with a harpoon. (Episode 2.7)

The other two Silurian Scorpions back at Leek's Creature Prison escaped with the other creatures when the Creature Prison's security system was disabled. They were later lured back into the cage room by the feeding time siren and were locked inside with Stephen. The Scorpions were then presumably killed when the trapped creatures turned on and destroyed each other.


Other references[]

Trivia[]

  • The Silurian Scorpion closely resembles the Whip Scorpion also known as the Vinegaroon.
  • While the Silurian Scorpions seen in Episode 2.5 were approximately twenty-five feet long, the ones seen in Episode 2.6 and 2.7 were not much bigger than a full-grown man. But it is possible that this is just due to age difference, especially considering that a fully-grown Scorpion probably wouldn't be able to fit in the Creature Prison.
  • The concept of scorpions dragging victims under the sand by sensing vibrations and preferring to stay in the sand is similar to the Graboids in Tremors.
    • Similarly, both the Graboids and the Silurian Scorpions were initially mistaken for snake creatures by the people who encountered them (the Graboids due to their long, prehensile tongues, and the Scorpions due to their long, curling tails).
  • The Silurian Scorpions' attack strategy may be a reference to Scorponok from the 2007 Transformers movie.
  • The Silurian Scorpions' shrieks were reused from the Parasite.

Errors[]

  • Scorpions as big as Silurian Scorpions wouldn't have been able to breathe properly in the Silurian and would have been crushed by gravity. A major lack of plants in the Silurian also leads to a small amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. An arthropod's lungs need a higher amount of oxygen the bigger the creature grows. To get to the size of the Silurian Scorpion, the air would need to be at least 30-40% oxygen. The desert had simple land plants but there were no land animals. Though the Silurian is known for giant scorpions which did exist, these scorpions only in the sea and were only nine feet long, such as Pterygotus and Brontoscorpio; although they were known to have came out of water, but only for a limited time.
Advertisement