Researchers have found what they believe is a 100-million-year-
old spider. Experts at Oregon State University said the
discovery is the only fossil of its kind showing a spider
attacking prey caught in its web. The fossils are in a piece of
amber that came from the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar in the Early
Cretaceous between 97 million and 110 million years ago.
Dinosaurs were almost certainly wandering nearby as the spider
moved in on the other prehistoric insect, according to
researchers. At least 15 strands of unbroken spider silk run
through the piece of amber, including some ensnaring the wasp.
The same piece of amber also contains the body of a male spider
in the same web. Experts said it is the oldest evidence of
social behavior in spiders, which still exists in some species
today, but is fairly rare. "This juvenile spider was going to
make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to
it," said George Poinar Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at
Oregon State University and world expert on