Fool's gold preserves a 3D fossil of a spider relative.Fool's gold preserves a 3D fossil of a spider relative.



Fool's gold has been used to preserve a 450 million-year-old fossil of an early spider relative in three dimensions.

The University of Oxford led a research team that discovered the new species, which is distantly related to arachnids like horseshoe crabs and scorpions.

It is a member of the megacheiran group of arthropods, which are distinguished by the enormous, modified leg at the front of their bodies that they use to catch prey.

The fossil was discovered at a location in New York State's well-known Beecher's Trilobite Bed, a stratum of rock that has several fossils that have been preserved.

The environment in which the animals kept there lived was harsh and poor in oxygen.

This made it possible for sections of their bodies to be replaced by iron pyrite, also referred to as fool's gold, after they were buried, creating golden 3D fossils.



In honor of arthropod specialist Greg Edgecombe of London's Natural History Museum, the new species has been named Lomankus edgecombei.

The discovery, according to experts, answers the long-standing mystery of how arthropods evolved the portions atop their heads.

These can include the pincers and fangs of spiders and scorpions, as well as the antennae of insects and crustaceans.

Their flexible, whip-like hairs, however, indicate that the creature was employing this frontal appendage to assess its surroundings rather than to catch prey, in contrast to other megacheirans.

According to the research team's leader, Associate Prof. Parry, the fossils "look as if they could just get up and scuttle away."

"Part of the key to this success is their highly adaptable head and its appendages, that has adapted to various challenges like a biological Swiss army knife" , he stated.

"As well as having their beautiful and striking golden colour, these fossils are spectacularly preserved."


Source bbc.com

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