Researchers at China’s Capital Normal University discovered a 99-million-year-old adult spider protecting an egg sac underneath her body with approximately 100 spiderlings encased in the amber. The piece was extracted from a mine in Myanmar that contained entombed spiders, and the team determined that the spider was a member of the extinct Lagonomegopidae family. They also found three more pieces of amber that contained baby spiders and spider thread.
CT-scanning was used to discern the small details in 3D, like its eyes as well as the spiderlings. Unfortunately, the researchers stated that the hatchlings most likely died soon after they emerged from their eggs, but you can still see some of the arthropod appendages preserved, some of which might be their mothers’ legs.
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The large spider is covered with emulsion-liked impurities, the dorsal parts of cephalothorax and abdomen are somewhat broken, and some of the leg podomeres are missing. Its large size, peg teeth on the promargin of the chelicera, unmodified pedipalps, spineless legs and trichobothria on the leg tarsus indicate that it belongs to Lagonomegopidae, and is an adult female,” said the researchers.
