A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs
A 500-million-year-old fossil of a clawed predator has been discovered in Utah, rewriting the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs. The discovery pushes the evolutionary history of chelicerates back by 20 million years, showing that the anatomical blueprint of spiders and horseshoe crabs was already emerging 500 million years ago.
Researchers at Harvard have discovered a 500-million-year-old fossil of a sea predator in Utah's West Desert. The fossil, named Megachelicerax cousteaui, is the oldest known chelicerate, a group that includes spiders, scorpions, and horseshoe crabs. It has a distinctive claw-like feature, which is a characteristic of chelicerates. The discovery was made by Research Scientist Rudy Lerosey-Aubril and Associate Professor Javier Ortega-Hernández. The fossil is significant because it shows that the evolutionary history of chelicerates is older than previously thought. The discovery also sheds light on the evolution of the chelicerate body plan, which is characterized by a division of the body into two functionally specialized regions.
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