Oxford scientists Martin Brasier, Laura Cotton and Ian Yenney report that they've found "the earliest examples of spider silk webs" in the oldest known Cretaceous amber resins from soils of the Ashdown Formation near Hastings in Sussex.
They wrote, "In contrast to younger Cretaceous examples, this Hastings amber was arguably deposited shortly before the emergence of the earliest flowering plant communities, circa 140 Ma BP."
They describe the spider web inclusions as being "twisted, paired and coated with sticky fluid droplets, comparable with those of araneoid spider webs studied by us in modern cherry tree resins."
This family of spiders, also known as orb weavers, produces the spiral wheel-shaped webs commonly found in gardens.
(Image: earl53)
"Early Cretaceous amber resins with macroscopic inclusions are extremely rare," the researchers mention, "as are ambers with inclusions from the parent plant."
Their resins amazingly include both, as parts of coniferous trees were also found in the amber, along with the spider webs. "Remarkably preserved soil microbes," including fungal and bacterial-type structures, are also in the Dinosaur Era amber.
"Together, these Hastings amber inclusions became entombed within resins that seeped through the charred bark of coniferous trees subjected to severe fire damage, whose logs were then swept onto fluvial wetlands by floods," the scientists conclude. "Embalming resins of this kind may have evolved to combat damage associated with insects, fungi and widespread forest fires."
A related BBC story ran earlier this year, but this was before the findings were officially confirmed.
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