homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Amazing 49 million year old spider gets a 3D portrait

An extremely old spider has showed its face for the first time in almost 50 million years; buried in a large chunk of amber, this Huntsman spider has descendants which live in the tropics and Southern Europe today. They can grow up to 30 centimeters, but they’re not aggressive and not poisonous for humans, despite […]

Mihai Andrei
May 23, 2011 @ 4:58 am

share Share

An extremely old spider has showed its face for the first time in almost 50 million years; buried in a large chunk of amber, this Huntsman spider has descendants which live in the tropics and Southern Europe today. They can grow up to 30 centimeters, but they’re not aggressive and not poisonous for humans, despite the fact that they deliver quite a bite.

This fossil, housed in the Berlin natural history musem is much smaller, and only through a technique called X-ray computed tomography were researchers able to make this 3D portrait of it.

“The research is particularly exciting because our results show that this method works and that other scientifically important specimens in historical pieces of darkened amber can be investigated and compared to their living relatives in the same way,” study researcher David Penney of the University of Manchester said in a statement.

Indeed, the obtained images are spectacular, revealing fangs, eyes and “pedipalps,” or the feelers on the spider’s face. They even made a video, showing the results of the procedure. I highly recommend watching it, that is, if you’re not afraid of going through the fangs of a 49 million year old spider.

share Share

Meet the world's rarest mineral. It was found only once

A single gemstone from Myanmar holds the title of Earth's rarest mineral.

A massive 8.8 earthquake just struck off Russia's coast and it is one of the strongest ever recorded

The earthquake in Kamchatka is the largest worldwide since 2011. Its location has been very seismically active in recent months.

Scientists Analyzed a Dinosaur’s Voice Box. They Found a Chirp, Not a Roar

A new fossil suggests dinosaurs may have sung before birds ever took flight

Humans Built So Many Dams, We’ve Shifted the Planet’s Poles

Massive reservoirs have nudged Earth’s axis by over a meter since 1835.

A Sixth Ocean Is Forming as East Africa Splits Apart

In East Africa, tectonic forces are slowly splitting the continent, creating a future ocean basin.

NASA finally figures out what's up with those "Mars spiders"

They're not actual spiders, of course, but rather strange geological features.

Melting Glaciers May Unleash Hundreds of Dormant Volcanoes and Scientists Are Worried

Glacier retreat is triggering more explosive eruptions, with global consequences

Cheese Before Bed Might Actually Be Giving You Nightmares

Eating dairy or sweets late at night may fuel disturbing dreams, new study finds.

Fireball Passes Over Southeastern United States

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a bolide!

Paleontologists Discover "Goblin-Like" Predator Hidden in Fossil Collection

A raccoon-sized predator stalked dinosaur nests 76 million years ago.