Scientists say a 305 million-year-old fossil is the closest relative to "true spiders" ever discovered - but is not itself a spider. Easily pre-dating the dinosaurs, the 1.5cm creature lived alongside the oldest known ancestors of modern spiders but its lineage is now extinct.
Lacking the tail-like appendage and spinnerets, Idmonarachne brasieri probably split off the spider lin before true spiders appeared.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35918234
Paper: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1827/20160125
Lacking the tail-like appendage and spinnerets, Idmonarachne brasieri probably split off the spider lin before true spiders appeared.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35918234
Paper: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1827/20160125