518-million-year-old creature reveals the origins of spider fangs
Scientists have identified 518-million-year-old fossils of a marine creature called Urokodia that contain the evolutionary precursors to spider fangs. This discovery helps map the early development of chelicerate appendages.
Why it matters
It provides significant insight into the evolutionary history of spiders and related invertebrates, clarifying how complex biological tools originated.
Scientists have discovered the earliest known evidence of the structures that eventually became spider fangs in a fossil dating back 518 million years. The finding was made by researchers from Yunnan University and the University of Leicester.
Whether associated with the deadly reputation of the Black Widow or the fictional bite that transformed Spider-Man, fangs have become one of the most recognizable features of spiders. Their evolutionary story, however, began long before modern spiders appeared.
A new study published in Nature traces the origins of this powerful hunting tool to Urokodia , a small marine creature that lived during the early Cambrian Period.
Spiders belong to a large group of invertebrates called chelicerates, which also includes scorpions and ticks. More than 100,000 chelicerate species have been described.
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