A Devonian spinneret: early evidence of spiders and silk use

A nearly complete spider spinneret was found in Middle Devonian rocks (about 385 to 380 million years old) near Gilboa, New York. This is the earliest evidence yet discovered for silk production from opisthosomal spigots, and therefore for spiders. Two previously known Devonian fossils described as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1989-10, Vol.246 (4929), p.479-481
Main Authors: Shear, W.A. (Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA), Palmer, J.M, Coddington, J.A, Bonamo, P.M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANATOMIA ANIMAL
ANATOMIE ANIMALE
Animal cuticle
Animals
ARAIGNEE
ARANAS
Araneae
Devonian
Devonian period
Fossils
GLANDE
GLANDULAS
Historic artifacts
Natural history
NEW YORK
NUEVA YORK
Paleontology
SEDA
SOIE
Spider webs
Spiders
Statistical median
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Summary:A nearly complete spider spinneret was found in Middle Devonian rocks (about 385 to 380 million years old) near Gilboa, New York. This is the earliest evidence yet discovered for silk production from opisthosomal spigots, and therefore for spiders. Two previously known Devonian fossils described as spiders lack any apomorphies of the order Araneae and are probably not spiders. The spigots of the Devonian spinnert resemble those of members of the living suborder Mesothelae, but the number of spigots and their distribution are like those of members of the suborder Opisthothelae, infraorder Mygalomorphae. The Devonian spider belonged to a clade that may be the sister group of all other spiders, of Mesothelae, or of Opisthothelae
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.246.4929.479