Enigmatic Spider in Burmite Fossil Amber

Description: The oldest amber containing insects and other arthropods comes from the deposits of Lebanon at some 135 million years of age. Deposits in Myanmar, New Jersey, and Japan are somewhat younger. Burmite preserves an astonishing array of taxo. The number of spiders is staggering. This one looks most like a modern-day jumping spider, a member of the familty Salticidae, the most numerous of extant families. However, as of the publication of a seminal work on Mesozoic spiders in 2015 no members of the family were known, and no spiders figured in this reference resembled this one. There are allusions to members of the family in more recent works, but no illustrations were available. For now let us just refer to it as aff Salticidae This specimen comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Gem and Jewelry Test Center (China)..

Reference: Beitrage Zur Areneologie, 9, 2015 p 61.