Preserved with exceptional detail in amber from the Cretaceous period, the specimen provides rare physical evidence that early spider ancestors once possessed tails, something that had only been hypothesized until now.
A tiny spider frozen in 100-million-year-old amber is changing what scientists thought they knew about spider evolution. This prehistoric creature had spinnerets like modern spiders, but also a long tail.
The fossil, uncovered in the dense forests of... [3179 chars]