The fossil is between 11 to 16 million-years-old and was found in the centre of Australia in a very dry region of New South Wales, called McGraths Flat.
It’s thought to be the first of this particular species to be found - and only the fourth spider fossil discovered in Australia.
Let’s not take all the excitement away, this is, after all, still the second largest spider fossil ever found.
Palaeontologist Matthew McCurry, of the University of New South Wales and the Australian Museum, said: "Only four spider fossils have ever been found throughout the whole continent, which has made it difficult for scientists to understand their evolutionary history."That is why this discovery is so significant, it reveals new information about the extinction of spiders and fills a gap in our understanding of the past.
“Not only is it the largest fossilized spider to be found in Australia but it is the first fossil of the family Barychelidae that has been found worldwide,” says arachnologist Robert Raven of Queensland Museum.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The fossil is between 11 to 16 million-years-old and was found in the centre of Australia in a very dry region of New South Wales, called McGraths Flat.
It’s thought to be the first of this particular species to be found - and only the fourth spider fossil discovered in Australia.
Palaeontologist Matthew McCurry, of the University of New South Wales and the Australian Museum, said: "Only four spider fossils have ever been found throughout the whole continent, which has made it difficult for scientists to understand their evolutionary history.
“That is why this discovery is so significant, it reveals new information about the extinction of spiders and fills a gap in our understanding of the past.”
"There are around 300 species of brush-footed trapdoor spiders alive today, but they don’t seem to become fossils very often.
This could be because they spend so much time inside burrows and so aren’t in the right environment to be fossilized."
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