World’s oldest spider, Dinosaurs’ coeval, found in amber

World’s oldest spider, Dinosaurs’ coeval, found in amber

True orb weaving spiders found trapped in amber from 121-115 million years ago are the oldest of their type yet found, according to the BBC News.

Its discovery in a museum fossil in Alava, Spain, confirms the orb-web as one of the oldest structures used by spiders to capture prey. It also dates the spider family Araneidae back to the Lower Cretaceous period. Previously the oldest recorded web-spinning spider dated back to the Upper Cretaceous period.

The spider was uncovered by David Penney, of the University of Manchester, Telegraph.co.uk reports.