(CNN) A 437-million-year old scorpion was the earliest known creature to venture from sea onto land, a new study has found, shedding new light on one of the earliest chapters in the planet's evolutionary history.

Scientists believe the fossilized remains of the prehistoric scorpion are the oldest known example of an air-breathing animal although Andrew Wendruff, a paleontologist at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, said it's not known how the creature would have divided its time between land and sea.

"We have the preservation of the internal structure. They were just like modern scorpions in that they were doing the same things -- they were more than likely breathing air," said Wendruff, the author of the study that published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

While there was no "unambiguous evidence" that this prehistoric scorpion, officially known as Parioscorpio venator, was terrestrial, Wendruff said it "had the capability to breathe on land and surely would have come onto land."

No lungs or gills can be seen in the fossils, but their similarity to horseshoe crabs, which can breathe on land, suggests that while the oldest scorpions may not have been fully terrestrial, they may have forayed onto land for extended periods of time, the study suggested.

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