Spider with tail found preserved in amber

[~~whimsy~~]

An extraordinary new species of arachnid, resembling a spider with a tail, has been discovered in amber from Myanmar (formerly Burma), of mid-Cretaceous age, around 100 million years ago.

The finding is described in a paper appearing in Nature Ecology & Evolution by an international team including Paul Selden of the Paleontological Institute and Department of Geology at the University of Kansas and colleagues from China, Germany, Virginia and the United Kingdom.

“There’s been a lot of amber being produced from northern Myanmar and its interest stepped up about ten years ago when it was discovered this amber was mid-Cretaceous; therefore, all the insects found in it were much older than first thought,” said Selden. “It’s been coming into China where dealers have been selling to research institutions. These specimens became available last year to Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology.”

The new ****** resembles a spider in having fangs, male pedipalps, four walking legs and silk-producing spinnerets at its rear. However, it also bears a long flagellum or tail. No living spider has a tail, although some relatives of spiders, the vinegaroons, do have an anal flagellum. Four new specimens have been found, and all are tiny, about 2.5 millimeters body length, excluding the nearly 3-millimeter-long tail.

https://news.ku.edu/2018/02/01/remarkable-spider-tail-found-conserved-amber-after-100-million-years

Fascinating look into the modern spider of today ancestors. :yesyes:

 

[seamanmonkey]

Nice find, thank you for sharing

 

[~~whimsy~~]

Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the rep :hatsoff:

 

[Will E Worm]

How do they know it is a tail?

Remarkable spider with a tail found preserved in amber after 100 million years

Science so-called...:yoda:

 

[~~whimsy~~]

They believe it was used as an antenna to be aware of environment.

 

[Will E Worm]

They believe it was used as an antenna to be aware of environment.

Antenna sounds better.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

Still can be a tail. Just like how a cat and dog have tails to communicate and use to spread glandular scents to use.

 

[sean miguel]

If they could extract it's DNA or the DNA of ******* it fed on, and use it to bring those species back from extinction that would be a cool idea for a movie.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

If they could extract it's DNA or the DNA of ******* it fed on, and use it to bring those species back from extinction that would be a cool idea for a movie.

There is enough crazy spiders going on in the world to bring back prehistoric spiders.or any other crazies of the historical world.