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Scientists have discovered fossilised spiders in China that date back to the middle Jurassic period - 165 millions years ago. The creepy crawlies were unearthed by Paul Seldon, a paleontologist from Kansas, who discovered them in China's Daohugou region.
This area is rich with fossils because, during the Jurassic era, the fossil bed here was part of a lake in a volcanic region. Spider fossils from this period are rare, because the arachnids' soft bodies don't preserve well.
But Mr Seldon was delighted to discover these specimens had been almost perfectly preserved because they had became trapped in volcanic ash. "The level of detail preserved in the fossils is amazing," he said. "You go in with a microscope, and bingo! It's fantastic
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