Museum curator identifies the oldest spider fossil ever present in Germany

Jason Dunlop, curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda on the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, lately made an thrilling discovery. In a publication titled “PalZ,” he discusses his identification of a spider fossil held on the museum, which occurs to be the oldest ever present in Germany.

The fossil was initially unearthed about 4 years in the past in Piesberg, a quarry close to Osnabrück, Germany, by geoscientist Tim Wolterbeek from Universiteit Utrecht. Ultimately, the fossil made its solution to the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, the place Dunlop was capable of research it additional.

By analyzing the strata and surrounding supplies, Dunlop estimates that the spider lived roughly 310 to 315 million years in the past through the Paleozoic period. He additionally decided that it belongs to a brand new species, which he named Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki. The fossil is remarkably well-preserved, even exhibiting the spinnerets, that are the organs accountable for producing silk. Though fossilization triggered some shrinkage, Dunlop means that the spider was probably round one centimeter lengthy when alive and had legs measuring about 4 centimeters in size.

The spider’s segmented stomach signifies that it belongs to the “limb spiders” group of its time. Dunlop categorized it as a member of the Araneae order, distinguishing it from different spider-like species. Apparently, he discovered similarities between this historic spider and the modern-day brown recluse spider.

Credit score: Jason Dunlop

Dunlop believes that the specimen will need to have been fossilized below extraordinary circumstances, as its options recommend that it was probably a burrow-dwelling spider with restricted contact with water. Earlier analysis signifies that the world the place the fossil was discovered was as soon as a forest, suggesting that this spider might have spun its internet on the forest flooring in an try to catch small prey.

Regardless of the absence of a palpal bulb, Dunlop means that the spider was more than likely a male, as females of its variety would have been extra sedentary.

Extra data:
Jason A. Dunlop, The primary Palaeozoic spider (Arachnida: Araneae) from Germany, PalZ (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s12542-023-00657-7

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