A 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil Just Rewrote the Spider Origin Story

A 500-million-year-old fossil just rewrote the spider origin story

Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural patterns strikingly similar to today's arachnids—suggesting spiders evolved in the ocean, not on land as previously believed. This brain structure even hints at a critical evolutionary leap that allowed spiders their infamous speed, dexterity, and web-…

This 500-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature Had a Brain Like a Spider

An exquisitely preserved fossil from half a billion years ago has turned our understanding of spider evolution upside down. Scientists studying the fossilized brain of Mollisonia symmetrica, a marine creature from the Cambrian period, have found striking similarities to modern spider neuroanatomy, suggesting that arachnids may have first evolved in the ocean, not on land, [...]

Ancient animal's fossilised brain prompts rethink of spider evolution

A 500-million-year-old sea creature called Mollisonia shared a similar brain structure to modern spiders, suggesting that arachnids first evolved in the sea

We Might Have Been Wrong About Where Spiders Came From

The brain of an ancient sea creature bears an uncanny resemblance to those of modern spiders, challenging the conventional notion of where spiders originated.

Ancient fossil reveals spiders may have come from the sea

A remarkably well-preserved fossil is challenging what scientists thought they knew about the origins of spiders and their close relatives. New research suggests that arachnids—spiders, scorpions, and similar creatures—may have first evolved in the ocean, rather than only after moving onto land as previously believed. The study, led by Nicholas Strausfeld at the University of […] The post Ancient fossil reveals spiders may have come from the sea…