100 Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Frozen in Time


Image: Oregon State University

Entomologist George Poinar, Jr., the man who popularized the idea of extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber and inspired Michael Crichton's book and movie Jurassic Park, found evidence of a 100 million-year-old spider attack, frozen in time:

“This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it,” said George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at Oregon State University and world expert on insects trapped in amber. He outlined the findings in a new publication in the journal Historical Biology.

“This was a male wasp that suddenly found itself trapped in a spider web,” Poinar said. “This was the wasp’s worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them.”

Link - via NewScientist


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