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Terrifying ancient spiders with SCORPION tails are found perfectly preserved in 100-million-year-old amber

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Spine-tingling spiders with scorpion-like tails have been found in amber dating back 100 million years.


 


The primitive creatures have been named after a monster from Greek mythology that was made of the parts of more than one animal.


 


The creepy crawlies scurried around the undergrowth of the rainforests of Burma during the age of the dinosaurs.


 


Their tails were longer that their bodies and were used as a sensory device to seek out prey or escape predators.


 


Called a telson, similar tails are seen it today in scorpions, but they have never been known before in a spider.


 


Researchers say it's possible that descendants of the creatures might still be alive today in the rainforests of southeast Asia.


 


The finding was made by an international team, including the University of Kansas and colleagues from China, Germany, Virginia and the United Kingdom.


 


The newly discovered species also had fangs, just like today's arachnids, through which it would inject venom into insects it trapped in pincer like claws.


 


Four fossils were so perfectly preserved scientists could also identify specialised male sexual organs called pedipalps. 


 


Similar to a tiny hypodermic needle they are used to transfer sperm to females.


 


While creeping through the forest, the spiders became enveloped in a pool of resin oozing from conifer trees.


 


The foursome were entombed in stunning detail. 


 


The head, fangs, male pedipalps, four walking legs and silk-producing spinnerets at the rear could all be observed.


 


But the most striking feature was the long flagellum, or tail, which no living spider has.


 


The specimens are all tiny, about 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) in body length, excluding the nearly three millimetre (0.2 inch) tail.


 


Palaeontologist Professor Paul Selden, of Kansas University, said: 'Any sort of flagelliform appendage tends to be like an antenna.


 


'It's for sensing the environment. Animals that have a long whippy tail tend to have it for sensory purposes.' 


 


The spider has been christened Chimerarachne after the mythological Chimera, a hybrid beast composed of the parts of several animals.


 


It's usually depicted as a lion with the head of a goat arising from its back and a tail that might end with a snake's head.


 


Professor Selden said it lies one step closer to modern spiders on account of its possession of spinning organs.


 


It lived on the islands of Myanmar, formerly Burma, during the mid-Cretaceous when T Rex ruled the planet. 


 


It's the latest in a series of Cretaceous-period fossils from the amber deposits in northern Myanmar's Hukawng Valley.


 


Amber, often used in jewellery, is fossilised tree resin, the oldest dating back more than 300 million years.


 


In the past few years the region has also yielded several beautiful bird wings, the spectacular feathered tail of a small carnivorous dinosaur and the outline of an entire hatchling bird.


 


In December researchers even revealed ticks in amber that may have feasted on dinosaurs.


 


Professor Selden said: 'There's been a lot of amber being produced from northern Myanmar and its interest stepped up about ten years ago when it was discovered this amber was mid-Cretaceous.


 


'Therefore all the insects found in it were much older than first thought. It's been coming into China where dealers have been selling to research institutions.


'These specimens became available last year to Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology.' 


 


The discovery confirms a prediction made a few years ago by Professor Selden and colleagues when they described a similar tailed arachnid, which resembled a spider but lacked spinnerets.


 


These animals from the much older Devonian, about 380 million years ago, and Permian, about 290 million years ago, formed the basis of a new arachnid order, the Uraraneida, which lies along the line to modern spiders.


 


In December researchers even revealed ticks in amber that may have feasted on dinosaurs.


 


Professor Selden said: 'There's been a lot of amber being produced from northern Myanmar and its interest stepped up about ten years ago when it was discovered this amber was mid-Cretaceous.


 


'Therefore all the insects found in it were much older than first thought. It's been coming into China where dealers have been selling to research institutions.


 


'These specimens became available last year to Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology.' 


 


The discovery confirms a prediction made a few years ago by Professor Selden and colleagues when they described a similar tailed arachnid, which resembled a spider but lacked spinnerets.


 


These animals from the much older Devonian, about 380 million years ago, and Permian, about 290 million years ago, formed the basis of a new arachnid order, the Uraraneida, which lies along the line to modern spiders.


 


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5345409/Four-terrifying-spiders-preserved-amber.html


 


for those who are curious, click the link. Otherwise, just be grateful that we live in 21st century like me


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