A prehistoric predator once hailed as the world’s largest spider has been unmasked as something entirely different. More than two decades after its discovery, Megarachne servinei was reclassified—not ...

A new analysis of an exquisitely preserved fossil that lived half a billion years ago suggests that arachnids—spiders and their close kin—evolved in the ocean, challenging the widely held belief that ...

In a remarkable discovery, researchers have unearthed 10 new species of fossilized spiders from the Mesozoic era, including one whose eyes still reflect light, 110 million years after its death. This ...

A timeline of the spider fossil record -- Fossils -- Living fossils -- Chance and change -- Outward and upward -- Triumph over thin air -- Small changes, big benefits -- Spinning, running, jumping, ...

Introduction. Caught in the act ; What are spiders and how do they fit into the grand scheme of things? ; Spiders in the fossil record ; Age, radiations and extinction events ; What is the importance ...

One of the creepiest, crawliest creatures of the Earth may have been swimming before adapting to live on land, new research suggests. Spiders and their arachnid relatives may have actually originated ...

Whether you love spiders or can't be within 10 feet of them, you probably think of them crawling around on land. And based on the fossil record, most researchers would probably say the same thing. For ...

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The brain of a sea creature that lived over 500 million years ago was organised like that of a spider – suggesting that arachnids may have not evolved on land as previously thought. It had been ...