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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 59,684,774 |
 Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year Old Spider Fossil Found Author: Tia Ghose Source: Wired Title: STUNNINGLY PRESERVED 165-MILLION-YEAR OLD SPIDER FOSSIL FOUND Scientists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved spider fossil in China dating back to the middle Jurassic era, 165 million years ago. The fossilized spiders, Eoplectreurys gertschi, are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years. The level of detail preserved in the fossils is amazing, said paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas and lead author of the study appearing Feb. 6 in Naturwissenschaften. “You go in with a microscope, and bingo! It’s fantastic.” | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 7 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Bursting Bubbles | Feb 11th. at 2:51:44 pm EST |
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LD Wolverine (Edmonton, Alberta) - Email Me Sorry to burst any "Monster Spider" bubbles but this spider, apparently, measured in at a whopping 6mm. If you visit [Web LINK] you can see a picture of the spider with a black line at the bottom of the picture. The line is one millimetre across. So its a little spider, but the details of such a fossel on a soft tissue creature of such a small size is incredible. |
| Wow! | Feb 10th. at 6:44:13 pm EST |
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Silver Faery (Hays, Kansas) - Email Me I have always had a healthy respect and fasination with spiders! They are beautiful and do need respect. To see a fossil of one that old...all I can say is WOW! Don't know if I would want to have a run in with that one! |
| More.. | Feb 10th. at 11:56:53 am EST |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me I don't really fear spiders, but I don't handle then either. I prefer to let them alone as they are just going about their business, killing the insects that bother me. |
| Spiders! | Feb 10th. at 7:20:23 am EST |
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Fraoch (Shelby, North Carolina) - Email Me I love spiders. I learned how to love spiders via Grandmother Spider. She and I have spent a lot of instructive time together. In fact I read all of those different little articles on the spiders. They made a goodsize piece of cloth from Golden Orb spiders without even hurting the little girls. That makes me want a spider silk cruelty free dress, but we're miles away from that. Folks, I plead with you. Don't be afraid of spiders. They are amazing and beautiful animals even the extra large ones. One of the most beautiful spiders on earth is poisonous, the black widow. However the likelyhood of being bitten by one of these femme fatales is very low as is the chance of being bitten by any other poisonous spider (There are only three) . The only truly aggressive spider is the Australian Funnel Web, but I think that being bitten by one of those is relatively rare as well. So, no worries, nothing to fear. Regard them aesthetically. Regard them as a society in conjunction with nature: Females rule. :) |
| WOW...! | Feb 9th. at 2:45:43 pm EST |
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Lady Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me Those were quite the pictures! Personally, I would HATE to see how big that bugger was! I'm only 4' 8" and if it was as big as I think it was, it would probably give me a BAD time - or a freakin' heart attack if I saw it. I would probably take my .22 cal. to it! ( would probably just wind up pissin' it off!) lol.... Love to all |
| Neat! | Feb 9th. at 2:16:15 pm EST |
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Asetam (Berkley, Michigan) - Email Me I love it when scientist find something new like this! We live in such a large and interesting world and I love to read articles like this. Can you imagine walking into your kitchen and find a spider...the size of a cat! LOL...I try not to kill spiders if I can help it but I admit I'd probably throw a shoe at it. Of course, I'd probably end up just stunning it (or royally p!ssing it off!!) but it might give me time to run away! Have a great day everyone! Blessings, Asetam |
| How Big Was This Spider? | Feb 9th. at 1:44:51 pm EST |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me While it is very nice to know, the size of the fossil was not given. Mesothelae was a true monster in spider dimensions-of a size that could hunt something the size of a modern domestic cat. The modern day equivalent would be the giant Bird Eating spider of the tropics. There are of course a myriad smaller species today, some which may have had larger ancestors in the past, and in various other places on the planet. I am glad that they discovered this in such wonderful shape, so maybe we can gain some insight into the past. I also agree the evolution takes place more as a matter of necessity rather than any other reason. Some creatures-bacteria included show very few changes because changes were not needed. However, the original design is never truly lost if change does occur. The DNA strands in every individual still carry the genetic ability to produce ancestral details. This was proven with experiments on chickens to produce both teeth and a longer tail- a throwback to a time when chickens were more like dinosaurs and less like candidates for KFC. |
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