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Science

Fossilized First: Ancient Amber Captures Moment Spider Attacks Wasp — Entombing Them Forever!

Oct. 9, 2012 4:18pm Liz Klimas

An ancient fossil could be the first of its kind showing a predator-prey relationship in amber.

Oregon State University researchers announced the fossilized amber, found in Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, showing a spider capturing a wasp Monday.

Oregon State University Researcher Identifies First Ever Fossil Showing a Spider Preying Upon a Wasp

(Image: Oregon State University/Flickr)

“This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it,” George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at Oregon State University, said in a university statement. “This was the wasp’s worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them.”

The researchers state that a fossil showing an attack such as this has never been reported. Although a fossilized web has been found and dates back to 130 million years. In this fossil, 15 strands of spider silk remain intact.

According to the university press release, to genera of spider and wasp are both extinct. These findings are published in the journal Historical Biology.

(H/T: Wired)

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Comments (50)

tiger838
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 5:04pm
When i seen this it’s right up my alley. Many years ago i had a goldsmith make me a very large gold ring that i designed. I told him to find me a nice size piece of amber with a bug in it. He found one about 50 carats with a very small bug and when he finished the ring, which i had made with the monarch butterfly designed on it holding the stone and symbols of its life cycle. It really came out beautiful. but the interesting part was the amber, i took an eyepiece to closely look at this bug and out of its mouth were very tiny air bubbles frozen in the amber to show its last breath. I think this is just as important, Smithsonian would love it…

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Dodecahedron
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 4:11pm
Uh… I guess wasps and spiders of that era moved REAL slow. Amber is not exactly a fast moving medium. I think the narrative is a little suspect. More like the wasp got stuck in it, and the spider thought she had an easy meal. Just like the La Brea tar pit victims – mammoth gets stuck, other predators get stuck with them thinking it was dinner time.

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- ronin_6
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 5:42pm
  I was thinking the same thing. The image of a pouncing spider getting caught in a sudden tidal wave of amber just doesn’t fit. I am going with your theory.
  
  Report this comment
- Komponist-ZAH
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:15am
  Well, this says it happened Monday:
  
  “Oregon State University researchers announced the fossilized amber, found in Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, **showing a spider capturing a wasp Monday**.”
  
  So this amber fossilized really quickly…
  
  …or there’s a missing comma.
  
  Report this comment
OniKaze
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 11:51am
I love how every now and then science will find some discovery that coincides with the text of the bible (which although mostly fiction, WAS based off of MANY factual events…) people cheer and get all happy about how slowly but surely the bible is being proven “factual”…

But those same people LOVE to turn a blind eye to the MOUNTAINS of evidence found by the scientific community on a nearly daily basis that proves the true age of our planet and the existence of life that far out dates anything written in the bible…

The Planet Earth (as well as life on it) is FAR older than humanity… This just goes to show you that no matter how much evidence you can provide, there are (and will always be) some people out there that just can’t handle the truth… The earth WAS NOT created in 7 days, only 5,000 years ago..

It was created over MANY Thousands of years, and in comparison to its past, humanity is merely still in its infancy…

Believe in God, Don’t believe in books and religious doctrines written by (flawed) man….

Man has lied in the past, why assume the books he’s written to be entirely true… History is written by those in power… That is how man-kind has always been, and always will be…

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- 02Z06
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 3:12pm
  ONIKAZE – So flawed man, and I agree with you on that point, is to be trusted when the theory of evolution and it’s multiple offspring is concerned but not the authority of the Bible?
  
  Report this comment
texastommy
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:02am
Poor spider. Had to die hungry.

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wbaranowski
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 1:56am
That damned amber! There it goes, again, mucking up the works.

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mrspeedwagon
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 10:09pm
I am a Christian…but disagree with the religious “nut jobs” who say the earth is 5,000 yrs old. Wonder what how they will explain THIS?

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- Welcome Black Carter
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 10:33pm
  Oh ye of little faith…
  
  Report this comment
- Prowd2beblack
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 10:34pm
  hmm, extinct maybe, but 130 million years old.. yea right…where’s the so called evil ution (evolution) they still look like modern spiders and wasps .. just as the bible said”made after their kind”.. and maybe the wasp got caught by the sap, then the spider went after it and got caught by the sap..
  
  Report this comment
JohnLarson
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 10:00pm
130 million years old?? Wow, that’s even before God created the universe. Talk about old!

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obispo1
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 8:43pm
Help me, help me!!!!

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Rayblue
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 8:31pm
Hanging from my rear view mirror is a tiny placetron wosnessenskll encased in polymerized methyl methacrylate.
It’s different from the usual Mardi Gras beads you have to admit.
And less emotive than the hairy buggly wuggly pouncing the baseball cap target in amber.

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KingCanon
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 8:07pm
How come ancient insects and arachnids look like ancient drawings?
Is it me or do insects seem more advanced and/or streamline these days?

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kindling
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:33pm
“spider and wasp are both extinct”
So who are the eco freaks going to blame that on? Could it have been global warming, global freezing, hit by astriod, or cave men and their fires. Life comes and life goes…..that’s life!

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- Superaxe
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 1:01am
  Global “Ambering”……..Dino-made, of course.
  
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Doundaschittah
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:17pm
Amazing.. One insignificant moment in time captured for eternity.. I love it :)

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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:34pm
  Very cool. Now we can do like Jurassic Park and extract their DNA and remake both of these extinct species back.
  
  Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:15pm
Both of those clowns should be paying attention to that giant leg on the right (their left) shaped like an “L”,…..wonder what insect that belonged to?

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- JBaer
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:38pm
  That L was for “Loser”
  
  Report this comment
flatbroke
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:04pm
Two of my least favorite bugs!

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hi
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:55pm
Did you know there are numerous fossils of fish swallowing other fish and even fossils with an intact fish that it swallowed in its belly?

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L.B.Stephens
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:41pm
“to genera of spider and wasp are both extinct.”

What would happen if that spider and wasp specie was not extinct?

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- CanteenBoy
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:03pm
  They would still exist.
  
  Report this comment
- L.B.Stephens
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:05pm
  Hahahah, good one!
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:32pm
  wah-wah-wah….. rimshot!
  
  Report this comment
Maximus_Delta
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:39pm
Jurassic Park??

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Zer0
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:38pm
That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen and read in a long time!

Now for some fun :D…..

Hey everybody, How old would you say that fossil is? 130 MILLION YEARS OLD or 130 THOUSAND YEARS OLD?

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- L.B.Stephens
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Maybe it is not as old as they think.
  
  Report this comment
- 762x51
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:46pm
  While it is true that radiocarbon dating using carbon14 is only accurate to an age of about 50,000 years by which time most of the carbon 14 has decayed to nitrogen, other means exist. A sample found in rock for example can have its age estimated by measuring the presence of Uranium 235 that occurs in the surrounding rock. Uranium has a much longer decay rate before it decays to lead than carbon so age determinations in the millions of years can be made.
  
  Those who want to poo poo this as only an estimation just save it, I’m not interested. Radioactive decay is real, it exists and is measurable, period. Whether a sample is 130,000,00 million years old or 128,583,973 years old is completely irrelevant. We are not talking about a auto accident where date and time are important and we can never know EXACT dates from radioactive dating but the errors are not the difference between 13M and 130K years. denying the reality of this science is an exercise in ignorance.
  
  Report this comment
- ultraright
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 6:47pm
  762X51
  You seem to be so sure of of the science of dating, yet there have been instances in which outside forces have been demonstrated to very decay rates. You can not definitely identify or measure the effects of all the unknown variables, therefore to uphold this as a reliable science is irresponsible.
  
  Report this comment
- possom
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:31pm
  Let’s crack it open and find out, now where’d I put that hammer.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:35pm
  @ ZERO & 762…
  
  You keep thinking… they’ll keep drinking …(the wine)
  
  Report this comment
- L.B.Stephens
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 9:31pm
  What if I said these insects were 8,000 years old.
  Could anyone prove that theory wrong? Or is my date theory just as valid as theirs?
  
  Report this comment
- TheCalmOne
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 9:59pm
  The creationist clowns can’t resist the temptation to question the dating, can they? Why don’t you just come out and confess your insane delusion that the world is only a few thousand years old?
  
  Report this comment
- L.B.Stephens
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 10:47am
  TheCalmOne,
  
  I was asking about the age of the spider, not the age of the earth.
  
  And I do not hold to the idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old.
  Do not put your words or assumptions in my mouth. I say what I mean, not what you think I say.
  
  Report this comment
The-Monk
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:36pm
“Paging John Hammond….. paging John Hammond”

Qué lindo eres….

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-ukQjJm42hbmnn/jurassic_park_1993_making_an_inspection/

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Verceofreason
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:36pm
The spider is Biden the wasp is Little Mister “Ya can’t film or record my fundraiser, when I’m not too bust to storm out of TV studios.”

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netmail
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:34pm
Little did the spider know that he was obviously NEXT.

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TexBork
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:32pm
Huh, And here I didn’t think there were any remaining photos of me and my first wife… I was enticed into her web… I was young…

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 7:32pm
  Are you confessing to being a White Anglo Saxon Protestant? …..;)
  
  Report this comment
Johnny916
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:27pm
This is what I love about science. Awesome finds like this make being a scientist awesome.

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The-Monk
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:26pm
“Welcome to my lair said the Amber to the pair”

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- MaleneSBrown
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:38pm
  @ monk
  That actually made me laugh.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:53pm
  @MaleneSBrown
  
  Thanks… and welcome to The Blaze. : )
  
  Report this comment
- Doundaschittah
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:23pm
  Me too… very clever.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 5:39pm
  @Doundaschittah
  
  Thanks… and it’s good to see you’re posting here today.
  
  Report this comment
- asybot12
  Posted on October 9, 2012 at 6:15pm
  And it was delicious, she answered 130 million years later.
  
  Report this comment
sndrman
Posted on October 9, 2012 at 4:25pm
nature at work,

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