Posted on 10/09/2012 2:04:50 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
A Fossilized Scene of a Spider Attacking a Wasp, Preserved for 110 Million Years
Paleontologists have discovered beautifully preserved species trapped in amber before — but this one is extraordinary. It features a parasitic wasp that has become ensnared in a spider's web, with the owner bearing down on it for an attack. But just before the spider was about to have its meal, a drop of resin flowed down from above, freezing the moment in time. Researchers date the scene to the Early Cretaceous between 97 to 110 million years ago in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar — a time when dinosaurs would have most certainly been in the neighborhood. And in addition to the dramatic scene, the fossil also contains the body of a male spider in the same web — the first evidence of spider social behavior in the paleontological record.
Spider sociality still exists in some species, but it is very rare. Today, most spiders live solitary lives, often resorting to cannibalism — including males who often attack immature species in the same web.
But as for catching unsuspecting prey in a web, that appears to be an evolutionary strategy that has survived the test of time. And in fact, spiders are an ancient invertebrate that first emerged about 200 million years ago. The oldest fossilized record of a spider dates back to 130 million years ago. This recent discovery is considered the first and only fossilized example of a spider attack on prey caught in its web.
The specimen trapped in the resin is an orb-weaver spider, a social species that has now been described by the researchers in their new paper which appears in Historical Biology. As for the wasp, it's closely related to a species that still exists today — one that is known to parasitize spider and insect eggs.
It would seem that the wasp had it coming.
Might I ask what you think evolution is?
But ... But ... Darwin's theory on evolution is hogwash!
Just kidding. Darwin's theory is now proven to a degree that few question it.
Erm - this article has squat to do with evolution. Maybe learn to recognize what evolution is and isn't before pontificating about degrees of provenness.
Might I ask what you think evolution is?
A theory that is given little if any support by the simple existence of life 97 to 110 million years ago.
Ok, I got a basic question. How did they date the fossil? Is there a way to tell how old the Amber was? Was it based on the he radiometric readings of nearby igneous rock?
And the proof that this occurred 97 to 110 million years ago?
Can’t say. It’s a stickler.
Sorry, the drop of amber immediately froze the spider and wasp in that position? Doesn’t amber have to harden?
To me it looks like something happened that was catastrophic that froze them into that position forever. Not sure what it would have been, something akin to Pompeii?
In the history of philosophy—with some very rare exceptions—epistemological theories have consisted of attempts to escape one or the other of the two fundamental questions which cannot be escaped. Men have been taught either that knowledge is impossible (skepticism) or that it is available without effort (mysticism). These two positions appear to be antagonists, but are, in fact, two variants on the same theme, two sides of the same fraudulent coin: the attempt to escape the responsibility of rational cognition and the absolutism of reality—the attempt to assert the primacy of consciousness over existence.
Welcome to the real world.
They'll have a very unpleasant awakening - in the near future... 8^)
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If we dropped a big glob of pine sap on you, how far would you be able to move before it hardened?
Here are some quotations from Darwin's Ghost" by Steve Jones (page 195).
Some chemicals are useful for dating the past. Potassium has half-life of rather more than a billion years as it breaks down to argon.
Carbon-14 -- a radioactive form of the atom upon which life is based -- has in contrast, a half life of a mere five thousand, seven hundred and thirty years.
The book, Darwin's Ghost is a modern update to Darwin's "Origin," using identical chapter names found in Darwin's work. It is a fascinating and fabulous read.
Bookmark
Great quote. Which of her books is that from? Is it from Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology?
Amazing. 100 million years and a spider still looks like a spider and a wasp still looks like a wasp. I guess evolution missed these two.
PING!
Well obviously they did not use Carbon14 dating if they arrived at such an old age. But I was wondering if somebody here knew how they did in fact measure it, and I am not sure that asking the ghost of Darwin would be a terribly useful way to seek the answer.
Not everything changes into “something else”. Sharks for instance have been around for hundreds of million years without changing much in form. They don’t need to because they are perfectly adapted to their niche.
It means that web spinning is a successful strategy for catching prey, so much so, that it has survived into the present as a tactic. Not all spiders make webs. some are ambush predators.
Yes, and I found it quickly using "The Ayn Rand Lexicon," pg 149.
That entire Lexicon is on the internet. Quote comes from http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/epistemology.html
Amazing, thanks for posting.
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