琥珀里发现最古老的蜘蛛网

Oldest Known Spiderweb Found in Ancient Amber
琥珀里发现最古老的蜘蛛网

琥珀里的蜘蛛丝

包含有蜘蛛丝的琥珀

2008.12.16
科学家最近宣布，他们在英国南岸偶遇的一片琥珀中发现了迄今为止最古老的蜘蛛网。
业余古生物学家杰米·希斯考克斯在尘封的沉积物中发现了这块琥珀，并交到了牛津大学的团队手里。
在此之前，已知的含有古生物体的最古老琥珀成型于中白垩纪（大约1亿2千万年前）。
不过牛津的马丁·布莱泽和劳拉·柯顿将“窥视琥珀的窗户”推后到了1亿4千万年前。那正是恐龙的全盛时期。
科学家用计算机合成图像技术制作了“极致精美”的化石结构细节图，即图中呈现的蛛丝轨迹和聚落丛林。
初期观察显示，琥珀里的蛛丝与现代蜘蛛产出的蛛丝相似。

December 16, 2008—The world's oldest spider web (above) has been found in a piece of amber on the south coast of England, scientists announced recently.

Amateur paleontologist Jamie Hiscocks found the amber deposits, long hidden by sands and tides, and gave them to an Oxford University team.

Until the new find, the oldest known amber containing ancient animals dated to the Middle Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago.

(Related: "Oldest Known Spiderweb Found in Ancient Amber" [June 22, 2006].)

But Oxford's Martin Brasier and Laura Cotton have now pushed back the "amber window" to 140 million years ago, during the heyday of the dinosaurs.

The scientists used computer-imaging techniques to create detailed images of "supremely delicate" fossil structures, such as silk threads and forest fungi.

Early observations of the fossil show that the threads resemble silk spun by modern spiders.