News Section | Evolution
Computer imaging gives 3D view of 49 million-year-old spider
Scientists have used X-ray computed tomography to obtain elaborate three-dimensional images of a 49-million–year-old spider trapped in an opaque portion of fossilized amber resin.
University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Germany, showed that the amber fossil – housed in the Berlin Natural History Museum – is a member of a living genus of the Huntsman spiders (Sparassidae), a group of often large, active, free-living spiders that are hardly ever trapped in amber.
As well as documenting the oldest ever huntsman spider, the scientists showed that even specimens in historical pieces of amber, which at first look very bad, can yield vital data when studied by computed tomography.
According to Dr David Penney of the Faculty of Life Sciences in Manchester University, this spider belongs to a collection of fossilized spiders by George Karl Berendt, which is maintained in the Berlin museum.
As the ancient amber underwent oxidation over the years and was dark and cracked, scientists endeavored to prove that this is truly a huntsman spider as these spiders are agile and strong and rarely get caught in tree resin.
He added that the results obtained established the fact that the spider is a member of a living genus, Eusparassus, which lives in tropical and arid areas of southern Europe, but thrived in Central Europe 50 million years back.
The study has been published in the international journal Naturwissenschaften.