Ancient Spider Fossil. PHOTOS/ IFL SCIENCE
LONDON – For scientist found an ‘amber’ (a petrified sap or mineral over millions of years) in which a spider was eating a bee.
This 100 million year old fossil is the only fossil spider ever found attacking prey trapped in its web.
Unfortunately, the spider, which lived at a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth, was trapped in tree sap and never finished its meal.
The bee’s eyes are looking to fight, moving to kill.
Part of the amber that immortalizes this event was found in the Hukawng valley of Myanmar during the early Cretaceous period between 97-110 million years ago. Almost certainly, at that time dinosaurs roamed the earth.
As well as providing the first and only fossil evidence of a spider attacking prey in its web, the sap fragments also immortalize the body of a male spider in the same web.
This is the oldest evidence of spider social behavior, which is still found today in some species, but is quite rare. Most spiders live alone, and often become cannibals. Male spiders will not hesitate to attack immature species in the same web.
“These young spiders will eat the tiny parasitic bees, but they never will,” George Poinar, Jr., an honorary professor of zoology at Oregon State University and a leading expert on insects trapped in amber, told Unilad.
2023-08-06 10:52:57
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