A 100 Million-Year-Old Spider And Its Meal Encased In Amber

Spiders were just as scary 100 million years ago as they are now. Do you require proof? How about this amber unearthed with a wonderfully preserved spider inside? When both predator and prey were enveloped in tree sap, the spider was in the process of digesting a young wasp. Because this wasp preys on spider eggs, the wasp may have had it coming in this case.

Myanmar is where the fossilized amber was discovered. It is the only known instance of a spider petrified during a hunt. It seems that this particular daddy longlegs belonging to the extinct species Halitherses Grimaldi was getting ready for some action when he got entombed by oozing tree resin in what became a piece of amber. That is why even now, 100 million years later, you can see his erect penis, which measures around half a millimeter and has been described as having “a heart-shaped tip and a bit of a twist at the end”.