News Paleontology

A fossil reveals early relatives of spiders — armed with claws

The fossil helps show how the front appendages of spiders’ kin may have evolved

An illustration shows two views of a many-legged sea arthropod from above and below, highlighting its front claws and underside appendages.

An early relative of modern spiders and scorpions (illustrated) lived in water, was about the size of a human hand — and already had the characteristic claws that still define this animal group some 500 million years later.

Masato Hattori

By Tom Metcalfe

A stunningly preserved fossil shows that early relatives of spiders and scorpions were already armed with their hallmark front claws about half a billion years ago.