World’s oldest spider is 20 million years old
A British scientist has claimed to have discovered the first
identified droplets of spider blood dating back to more than 20
million years.
Palaeontologist Dr David Penney, of the School of Earth, Atmospheric
and Environmental Sciences, from the University of Manchester has said
that he discovered the droplets of spider blood from a piece of amber,
which also contained the spider
Penney said that the fossil, four centimetres long and two centimetres
wide was discovered in the Dominican Republic and dated back to the
Miocene period.
Penney has said that analysis of the fossil provided him with other
insights into the life of the spider-like how it died, where it was
travelling and how fast it was moving.
“It’s amazing to think that a single piece of amber with a single
spider in it can open up window into what was going on 20 million
years ago. By analysing the position of the spider’s body in relation
to the droplets of blood in the amber we are able to determine how it
died, which direction it was travelling in and even how fast it was
moving,” said Dr. Penney
Dr Penney, who wrote his findings in the journal Palaeontology said
that the spider was probably climbing up a tree when it was struck
head-on by a sudden strong flow of resin. The spider then became
engulfed in the resin and died. The shape and position of the blood
droplets, he said, also revealed the direction the spider was
travelling in, as also which of the spider’s legs broke first.
