But earlier this month, in a Salt Lake City paleontology laboratory, something stirred within the cracks of the rock. After a little investigation, he discovered a live scorpion struggling to escape.

"If something had crawled out during the first month or two, it wouldn't have been surprising," he said.

About 15 months ago, the scorpion apparently scurried under the wrong rock in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The rock chunk happened to contain the skull of an 80-million-year-old, yet-to-be-identified horned dinosaur discovered by the Utah Geological Survey.

To prepare the skull for study, researchers encased it in plaster - along with the 2-inch long hitchhiker.

A few weeks ago, DeBlieux, a paleontologist, opened parts of the plaster jacket to remove the rock. As he moved to a new section, he spotted the scorpion in a crack and fished the arachnid out.

He placed the scorpion in a plastic soda cup to take a picture, then pondered the hitchhiker's fate.

While 15 months seems like an incredible voyage, scorpions and other arthropods have ways to survive tough circumstances, said Richard Baumann, a Brigham Young University zoologist.

Scorpions can't hibernate, but they can enter a phase known as diapause, an extended sleep period in which it does not grow.

"It's possible," Baumann said of the southern Utah scorpion's extended journey.

Under other circumstances, the scorpion might have met an untimely end, but DeBlieux respected the creature's will to survive.

"After 15 months, I wouldn't have had the heart to hurt him," he said.

So the scorpion was set free in a field near the corner of North Temple and Redwood Road to face the challenge of a northern Utah winter.

glavine@sltrib.com