FOSSILS OF LARGE TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPODS FROM THE LOWER DEVONIAN OF CANADA

TERRESTRIAL arthropods have a fossil record that reaches back to at le ast the Upper Silurian (420 million years ago). Most available data on these early land animals comes from a few sites at which abundant mic roarthropod remains are preserved as organic cuticle fragments. Such c uticle assemblages imply that early terrestrial ecosystems were domina ted by small arthropods of the soil and litter, We describe here new i mpression and impression/compression fossils from the Emsian stage of New Brunsnick and Quebec, Canada, which include millipeds, arthropleur ids, and a scorpion with book-lungs preserved. They suggest that surfa ce macroarthropods were also a significant component of the land fauna .