2024-10-20 18:00:00
A team of scientists has found a fossil of a giant spider in the city of McGraths Flat, New South Wales, Australiaa region which, despite currently being very large grassy plainmillions of years ago it was vibrant Biodiversity sanctuary in which they lived together species of all kinds in a totally jungle environment.
This spider fossil is one of the few found in Australia, making it a extremely rare and precious findgiven this To date, only 4 spider fossils have been found across the continent.which further highlights the enormous and precious importance of this research both for paleontology and for the study of extinct ecosystems.
Thousand-year-old spider: new species
This hitherto unknown species of arachnids It inhabited the Earth during the Miocene, that is, between approximately 11 and 16,000,000 years ago, it was called Megamonodontium mccluskyi. in honor of scientist Simon McClusky who found it. This name is composed of the words “mega”, which means ‘large’; “monodontium” which is the genus of arachnids and “mccluskyi”, from the name of its discoverer.
“Not only is it the largest fossil spider found in Australia, but it is the first fossil of the Barychelidae family found anywhere in the world.whose members are known as trappers because they build trap burrows in the ground or wood and use their bulky bodies to seal their hiding places,” the specialist said in an interview with Print Europe.
“This fossil found proves it It was the largest specimen of trapdoor spider known today, since these huntsman spiders measure approximately 10 millimeters, while Megamonodontium mccluskyi has a size of 50mm tip to tipwhich makes it the second report of larger spiders found so far in Australia”concluded the scientist.
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