Scientists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved spider fossil in China dating back to the middle Jurassic era, 165 million years ago. The fossilized spiders, Eoplectreurys gertschi, are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years. The level of detail preserved in the fossils is amazing, said paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas and lead author of the study appearing Feb. 6 in Naturwissenschaften. “You go in with a microscope, and bingo! It’s fantastic.” The fossils were found at a site called Daohugou in Northern China that is filled with fossilized salamanders, small primitive mammals, insects, and water crustaceans. During the Jurassic era, the fossil bed was part of a lake in a volcanic region, Selden said. Spider fossils from this period are rare, because the arachnids’ soft bodies don’t preserve well. The pristine fossil pictured in these photos was probably created when the spider was trapped i…[...]

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Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year Old Spider Fossil Found