Spider-Like Creature with a Scorpion’s Tail Found Trapped in Amber

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/spider-tail-amber.html?mabReward=CTS2&recid=10DBLl3OnsaRNCcvOaGKa2AlMig&recp=5&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine

by Osiris30 • 8 years ago

98 59 8 years ago

nytimes.com

everdev• 8 years ago

Are biological components like a scorpions tail, or eyes or legs coded in a special way?

Not a biologist but it appears that biology is really good at preserving the integrity of body parts even though they can be found in multiple species.

kian3• 8 years ago

Check out HOX genes if you want to learn more about this - feel free to message my_username OT cerebralinguist DOT net if you want some more sources!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hox_gene

dom96• 8 years ago

Wow. Thanks for this link. The description of the genes in flies is amazing, it seems they have done some experiments to see how flies develop with each part of these genes modified.

sparrish• 8 years ago

And my nightmares now have new fuel.

rayalez• 8 years ago

Note that it's only 2.5mm long.

Though it does remind me of that facehugger from aliens.

locrelite• 8 years ago

Right?

chocolatebunny• 8 years ago

2.5mm is the perfect size to crawl into your mouth while you sleep.

DoofusOfDeath2• 8 years ago

If you'd like to keep things in perspective, go back and watch some videos involving Japanese giant hornets (shudder).

kbenson3• 8 years ago

At some point, after we start unlocking more secrets of the brain, we're going to understand how some shapes and biological attributes have been instinctively ingrained in our brains.

Then Hollywood will have some scientific basis to proceed from to make some true nightmare fuel that ticks all the right horrible boxes.

sevenfive2• 8 years ago

It's not hard to just guess. What is a spider? Radial lines that move.

hawktheslayer• 8 years ago

I agree with you, and this reminds me of the Black Mirror Playtest episode where, (spoiler alert), they create an artificially intelligent game that adapts itself to maximize terror.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playtest_(Black_Mirror)

rm_-rf_slash3• 8 years ago

Hayao Miyazaki had a scathing critique of a team that created a neural network designed to draw/animate on its own. It’s worth noting because his main criticism is that the more we offload these techniques to machines, we lose an element of creativity in ourselves.

Videos only two minutes but even that little time of ripping into the team that made the NN is hard to watch.

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/12/that-time-miyazaki-absolut...

tzs• 8 years ago

Also taken to new heights (or depths, depending on viewpoint) by this will be Japanese game shows and "enhanced interrogation".

tracker1• 8 years ago

I don't know... The Mist, and the bug pit in the Kong movie with Jack Black are pretty close to my nightmares come to life.

matte_black5• 8 years ago

Just add wings.

maxxxxx• 8 years ago

At 2.5mm size you would probably wouldn't even notice if this thing attacked you.

labster• 8 years ago

And now I have a great idea for a "random" encounter in the next gaming session I run.

fwdpropaganda• 8 years ago

Scorpions are already quite close to spiders. They're both arachnids.

DoofusOfDeath2• 8 years ago

Scorpions are already quite close to spiders. They're both reasons I refuse to live close to the equator.

ivanhoe• 8 years ago

And Australia, don't forget Australia...

flukus• 8 years ago

I've got some bad news: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0624_030624...

Scorpions hibernate in times of extreme cold, which allows Asian species to live as far north as nearly 50 degrees latitude. "That's under snow a good four months a year," said Fet. "There's no way they are active there in cold weather, but they hibernate, and do this even in Asian deserts where it becomes very cold."

dannycastonguay• 8 years ago

You don't need to go too far South in the US... Had a scorpion walk up to me while I was using a public toilet in Northern Nevada - I fired up quite a few neurons and sweat glands!

onewhonknocks• 8 years ago

Please do not 'Jurassic Park' this thing back to life. Kthxbai.

monocasa• 8 years ago

DNA has a half life of only 521 years, so that avenue is unlikely to bear fruit (or dinosaurs, or scropi-ders) anyway.

dogma11382• 8 years ago

http://www.nature.com/news/first-horses-arose-4-million-year...

Methods for extracting aDNA are always improving, oldest full genome sequencing is now over half a million years old.

ZorroToaster• 8 years ago

That thing looks like mix and match of various God of War enemies.

arthurcolle• 8 years ago

yeah lets give them more legs, perfect idea

jaclaz• 8 years ago

yeah lets give them more legs, perfect idea

Nature already had that idea with the centipedes and millipedes, the issue is that they won't be classified as an arachnid, since one of the "key" features is having exactly eight legs (actually four pairs):

http://www.burkemuseum.org/blog/myth-eight-legs-always-means....

noetic_techy• 8 years ago

I hope they find remnant species deep in these jungles one day. Similar to the Coelacanth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth

JoeAltmaier2• 8 years ago

I've read that the original land animals were creatures such as this. But with spinnerets. One has to wonder, what was a formerly-sea-creature doing with spinnerets. And what possible use could they have on land, if this was the first land animal. What would they catch in their web?

dragonwriter• 8 years ago

I've read that the original land animals were creatures such as this. But with spinnerets.

This has spinnerets. But, also, probably not that much like the earliest land animal:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumodesmus

JoeAltmaier2• 8 years ago

That makes a lot more sense!

yesenadam• 8 years ago

"It’s the stuff of prehistoric nightmares.

Eight legs. Fangs. And a whip-like tail.

...Its remains were found imprisoned in amber, as if Mother Nature herself tried to lock this tiny terror away from the rest of the world."

Gee, is that bad writing or what? Sounds like crap tv, not the NYT.

brahmwg• 8 years ago

Amateur bug-guy here. To me it looks like an early predecessor to the whip-scorpion / vinegaroon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelyphonida

camillomiller2• 8 years ago

If I’ll ever have my own death metal band I will call it The Vinegaroon.

itronitron• 8 years ago

you may also want to consider 'The Solifugae'

tptacek• 8 years ago

Put it back, please.

Spider-Like Creature with a Scorpion’s Tail Found Trapped in Amber

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