Palaeophonus (meaning "ancient killer") is one of the oldest known genera of scorpions.

[2] This genus has been reported in the fossil record from the Silurian to the Carboniferous (age range: 428.2 to 314.6 million years ago).

[3] However revision by Dunlop & Garwood (2023) demonstrated that Allopalaeophonus is a junior synonym of Palaeophonus and that there are only two valid species, P. nuncius Thorell and Lindström 1884 from Sweden and P. caledonicus Hunter, 1886 from Scotland.

The species P. arctus Matthew, 1894 from the Carboniferous of Canada and P. lightbodyi Kjellesvig-Waering 1954 from the Silurian of England are nomina dubia.

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