Fossil of spider-like creature found in Illinois stumps scientists — until now. See it
At first glance, this fossilized eight-legged creature looks like a type of spider. But when scientists looked closer at the legs etched into the fossil, they were stunned by its spiny features.
Due to its unique features, paleontologists were unable to classify the arachnid with any other species.
“It is quite unlike any other arachnid known, living or extinct,” co-author Paul Selden, from the University of Kansas and the Natural History Museum of London, said in a May 17 News release.
The creature, given the scientific name Douglassarachne acanthopoda, originated in the Mazon Creek in Illinois, according to the report. Selden said it is about 308 million years old.
The species was described in a study published May 17 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Paleontology.
“The fossil’s very spiny legs are reminiscent of some modern harvestmen, but its body plan is quite different from a harvestman or any other known arachnid group,” co-author Jason Dunlop of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, said in the release.
Dunlop and Selden say they cannot determine which arachnid groups are closely related to the new species because some details, such as mouth parts, cannot be seen.
“It could belong to a wider group, which includes spiders, whip spiders and whip scorpions,” Selden said in a news release. “Whatever its evolutionary affinities, these spiny arachnids appear to come from a time when arachnids were experimenting with a range of different body plans.”
The Mazon Creek is especially known for the arachnids home to it during the Carboniferous period, which was over 300 million years ago. The habitat represents “the first time in Earth’s history when most living groups of arachnids occurred together,” researchers said.
Today, the area in northeastern Illinois is recognized for a range of discoveries in the area, according to the Field Museum in Chicago.
When the Douglassarachne acanthopoda roamed the earth millions of years ago, it was part of a rare group in the ecosystems, scientists said. While spiders are frequently encountered in many parts of the world today, they were “only known at that time from primitive lineages,” researchers said.
The fossil was discovered in 1980 by Bob Masek and later given to the David and Sandra Douglass Collection to be displayed at the Prehistoric Life Museum. The fossil was later donated to the Field Museum when scientists determined the species had not yet been named, according to the study.
Mazon Creek is near Morris, Illinois. Morris is about a 60-mile drive southeast of Chicago.
