If you thought Australian spiders were scary, wait until you see the prehistoric version.
Scientists have discovered the remains of a giant trapdoor spider in New South Wales. This is the fourth specimen of its kind to be found in Australia.
Researchers said in a recent report that the creature would have roamed and hunted in the surrounding area, which was once a lush rainforest.
Last year, scientists unearthed fossils from a millions-year-old rainforest region filled with specimens of plants, trapdoor spiders, giant cicadas, bees and more.
Today, this area is a grassland area known as McGrath Flat.
The researchers named the fossil spider “Megamonodontium mccluskyi.” It is thought to have lived during the Miocene epoch, between 11 million and 16 million years ago.
“Only four spider fossils have ever been discovered across the continent, making it difficult for scientists to understand the evolutionary history of spiders,” said Matthew McCurry, a palaeontologist at the University of New South Wales and the Australian Museum. It’s becoming difficult,” he said.
“That’s why this discovery is so important, revealing new information about spider extinctions and filling gaps in our understanding of the past.
“This fossil’s closest living relatives now live in humid forests from Singapore to Papua New Guinea.
“This suggests that this group once occupied similar environments on mainland Australia, but subsequently became extinct as Australia became increasingly arid.”
This spider was discovered among many other Miocene fossils. In some of them, the fossils were so well preserved that intracellular structures could be seen.
“Scanning electron microscopy allowed us to study the details of the spider’s palps, legs, claws and bristles on its body,” said Michael Frese, a virologist at the University of Canberra.
That detail meant scientists could confidently place it close to modern Monodontium, or trapdoor spiders.
However, it is five times larger than its modern relatives. Megamonodontium mccluskyi has a body length of 23.31 millimeters, or just over an inch.
Different species of modern trapdoor spidersMatthew R. McCurry, Michael Frese, Robert Raven
This type of finding also tells us something about Australia’s past climate, the report added.
The fact that it was discovered in layers of rainforest sediment means that the area was once much wetter than it is today.
That, in turn, could help scientists understand how a warming climate has already changed life forms in this country, and how it might change them again. There is.
“This is not only the largest spider fossil ever found in Australia, but also the first fossil of an arachnid found anywhere in the world,” said Queensland Museum arachnologist Robert Raven. .
“Currently, there are about 300 species of scissor spiders, but they don’t seem to turn into fossils very often.
“This may be because they spend a lot of time in their burrows and are not in an environment suitable for fossilization.”
The survey results are Zoological journal of the Linnean Society.
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