Scientists previously
unearth a fossil of the largest spider known to man, a female of an extinct and
unknown species of spider that died buried in volcanic ash when the dinosaurs
still walked the Earth.
Today, researchers
report to have found a fossilized male spider to match the female behemoth, but
the
discovery comes with a slight hitch, complicating the initial interpretation
of the extinct spider species. The newly discovered extinct spider has been given
a new genus—Mongolarachne—by the scientists.
On the other hand,
when scientists found the extinct female spider in China, it was given the name
Nephila jurassica,
lumping it in the same genus as the currently living golden silk orb-weavers, spiders large enough
to catch and feed upon birds and bats with their large webs.
According to
University of Kansas palaeontologist Paul Selden, the female spider was so
similar to the modern golden orb weaver that they couldn’t find a reason not to
place the extinct critter in the same genus.
Spiders, which have
soft bodies are poor candidates for fossilization, but there are instances when
they can be preserved in the rock. Volcanic deposits, for example, have turned
up hundreds of spiders, such as those found at the Daohugou fossil beds in
Inner Mongolia.
It was here that
Selden and a team of researchers discovered another extinct spider, this time a
male, that looked very alike to Nephila jurassica. However, clues in the newly discovered
fossil show that the extinct arachnid just didn’t belong in the genus Nephila.
The first telltale
sign was size. In modern golden silk orb-weavers, males are smaller than
females. The extinct arachnid on the other hand, was similar in size to Jurassica.
Read the full story on
Discovery News.
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