DrmDoc Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 Has anyone seen this video of a unique spider that may have lived well before the age of dinosaurs? The spider is unique in that it didn't have an organ for web spinning. The 305 year-old fossil was discovered in the 1980's in France and was not examined until recently because it could not be removed from the rock in which it was encased without damage. It's suggested that web-spinning spiders had an evolutionary advantage leading to their proliferation and decline of this web-less spieces. Enjoy!
Robittybob1 Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 That reminded me of what I call crab spiders. They too don't produce a web. http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian/thomisidae/crabspiders.html 1
DrmDoc Posted March 31, 2016 Author Posted March 31, 2016 That reminded me of what I call crab spiders. They too don't produce a web. http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian/thomisidae/crabspiders.html Fascinating, do you know if these spiders are web producers or have the vestigial organs of web producers? If not, do you think it likely these are the web-less spider's descendants?
Robittybob1 Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) Fascinating, do you know if these spiders are web producers or have the vestigial organs of web producers? If not, do you think it likely these are the web-less spider's descendants? there are a lot of types of these crab spiders. They never seem to produce webs. Whether they can wrap their prey in silk I'm not sure. I saw one holding onto a fly the other day but I think it had picked up a dead fly. [They often crawl around bench tops. If you look at them they behave as if they know you are looking at them as they turn and will be looking at you, which seems to make them appear very intelligent. They seem to predict your movements they can only walk or jump but they always move in the right direction to get away.] They look very much like the fossil. In this video the crab spider appears to be suspended by a thread at 1:00 minute mark Edited April 1, 2016 by Robittybob1
Strange Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Fascinating, do you know if these spiders are web producers or have the vestigial organs of web producers? If not, do you think it likely these are the web-less spider's descendants? "Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomisidae "Sundry reproductive processes" !? 1
DrmDoc Posted April 1, 2016 Author Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) "Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomisidae "Sundry reproductive processes" !? So Thomisidae are not descendants of these web-less spiders. Given the rarity of fossils compared to the number of animals that may have existed, I tend to believe these anomalous, singular fossils are just that--a singular, sterile mutation as we may find among present-day animals that don't have offspring. What I find most interesting about these extinct animals is how large they grew and I imagine my reaction to an actual encounter with one. Although unlikely, I here there is an African and South American spider that can reach the size of a small cat--chilling! Edited April 1, 2016 by DrmDoc
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