, a strange arachnid that has stepped into the paleontology spotlight. It has stocky, spine-covered legs and resembles a spider . It’s so rare, there’s only one known specimen in the form of a 308-million-year-old fossil. The fossil opens a window into a distant past where unusual arachnid species roamed the land, but didn’t survive into modern times.from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin teamed up to describe the new species. “This compact arachnid had a body length of about 1.
Arachnids today are a diverse group of animals ranging from spiders to scorpions to ticks. They all have eight legs.has the right number of legs, but those legs set it apart from its peers. “The fossil’s very spiny legs are reminiscent of some modern harvestmen, but its body plan is quite different from a harvestman or any other known arachnid group,” said Dunlop, who described the specimen as a “particularly impressive example” of extinct forms of arachnids.that can be split open like geodes.
The study suggests the arachnid’s spiny legs might have been a defensive adaptation to deter predators or buy time to escape an attack. “Moreover, a predator might weigh up bothering to attack such a spiny creature for fear of damage to itself and also the additional time taken to deal with it,” says Selden over email. “Once a predator tackles such a prey, it might decline to attack another.” A predator might just move on to something more palatable..