An amber sample discovered in China shows the great lengths a mother spider will go to protect its young.
A team of researchers at Capital Normal University in China found an adult spider with parts of an egg sac underneath her body and nearly 100 spiderlings, all of which have been encased in the amber for 99 million years.
A team of researchers at Capital Normal University in China found an adult spider with parts of her egg sac and some hatchlings underneath her body, all of which have been encased in the amber for 99 million years.
A total of four pieces of Burmese amber found in Myanmar tells a complete story of the spider family that lived 99 million years ago. One of the pieces houses the adult spider and part of an egg sac
In another piece, the team counted 24 persevered spiderlings, most of which are deformed and broken that happened when they were preserved. And another was found with 26 baby spiders and another encased 34
‘The large spider is covered with emulsion-liked impurities, the dorsal parts of cephalothorax and abdomen are somewhat broken, and some of the leg podomeres are missing. Its large size, peg teeth on the promargin of the chelicera, unmodified pedipalps, spineless legs and trichobothria on the leg tarsus indicate that it belongs to Lagonomegopidae, and is an adult female,’ according to the study.
The fourth piece housed a collection of other insects that also became trapped 99 million years ago, including a large leg of an undefined arthropod in the chunk, a preserved cockroach and wasp