This spider's eyes still glow, even though it died 110 million years ago
Fossil hunters in Korea discovered long-dead spiders preserved in rock. And to the delight of scientists, the arachnids' eyes are still reflective -- some 110 million years after the creatures died.
It's rare for insects and arachnids -- which are far more brittle than shelled sea creatures -- to become fossilized in rocks. But for reasons still unknown, a couple of these spiders did fossilize, and the unique shape of their eye structures continue to reflect light -- even in their petrified form.
The reflective eye structure is called a tapetum, and it's often used by creatures who hunt in the dark.
"So, night-hunting predators tend to use this different kind of eye," Paul Selden, director of the Paleontological Institute at Kansas University's Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, said in a statement. "This was the first time a tapetum had been in found a fossil. This tapetum was canoe-shaped — it looks a bit like a Canadian canoe."
Today's wolf spiders employ the same eye structures to hunt, Selden added.
A mystery still remains, however: How did the spiders become fossilized? Their petrified bodies were found in a layer of rock filled with fish and other sea critters -- but spiders don't dwell in water.
“It has to be a very special situation where they were washed into a body of water," Selden said. "Normally, they’d float. But here, they sunk, and that kept them away from decaying bacteria — it may have been a low-oxygen condition."
Selden and his Korean colleagues -- who actually discovered the ancient spiders -- now get to name the curious fossils. They were only found because Korean land is often excavated, so scientists and the fossil-curious dig in to see what ancient novelties are hidden in Earth's crust.
"So, they carve away the hillsides to make a flat area, and there are temporary excavations while they’re cutting away and building a factory or whatever — that’s where they found these fossils," said Selden.
Topics Animals
Mark was the science editor at Mashable. After working as a ranger with the National Park Service, he started a reporting career after seeing the extraordinary value in educating people about the happenings on Earth, and beyond.
He's descended 2,500 feet into the ocean depths in search of the sixgill shark, ventured into the halls of top R&D laboratories, and interviewed some of the most fascinating scientists in the world.
