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What did spiders look like 100 million years ago? They had tails like scorpions

There is only one answer to how the living things 100 million years ago have been preserved up to now. Only when we study fossils can we understand the production of living things and plants 100 million years ago.

Recently, researchers from Nanjing Institute of Geology and paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed that ancient spiders once had long tails by studying fossils 100 million years ago, providing key evidence for the study of the origin and evolution of spiders. What did ancient spiders look like? Let's take a look at it with Xiaobian.

What happened to ancient spiders billions of years ago

The reporter learned from Nanjing Institute of Geology and paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences that two teams led by researcher Wang Bo and researcher Huang DIYing respectively carried out research on a strange ancient spider 100 million years ago: Yingshi chimera spider. The newly discovered ancient spiders let us discover that the ancient ancestors of spiders have tails, which provides key evidence for understanding the origin and early evolution of spiders.. In the early morning of February 6, Beijing time, this important research result was published in the international journal.

The results were published in nature, nature ecology and evolution in the form of two back-to-back papers on February 6.

Spiders are a common animal, but because of the scarcity of early fossils, the origin and evolution history of spiders are poorly understood. The fossilized spider was preserved in four Burmese amber pieces 100 million years ago. Although it is only about 3 mm long, its integrity is extremely high. The long and thin whiskers found in spiders surprised the researchers.

Wang Bo told reporters that the ancestors of spiders used to have long and thin tails like scorpions, which had a perceptual effect on the outside world. As the spiders propagate, their tails gradually degenerate. The silk glands and touch limbs on the body of spiders replace the function of the tail.

Wang Bo, a researcher at Nanjing Institute of Geology and paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the previous theory believed that this kind of spider with tail died out about 250 million years ago, but what we didn't expect was that, 100 million years ago, that is to say, after everyone thought that it died out, we found its trace again.