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Spider-Like Creature with a Scorpion’s Tail Found Trapped in Amber
- everdev 9y agoAre 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.
- kian 9y agoCheck 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hox_gene
- dom96 9y agoWow. 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.
- kian 9y agoYeah, flies breed so quickly that knockouts are really easy to test. The fact that it's the same set of genes conserved in mammals is nuts. If you find this fascinating, you may also wish to look a bit deeper into the genetics of morphogenesis and embryogenesis
- sparrish 9y agoAnd my nightmares now have new fuel.
- rayalez 9y agoNote that it's only 2.5mm long. Though it does remind me of that facehugger from aliens.
- locrelite 9y agoRight?
- chocolatebunny 9y ago2.5mm is the perfect size to crawl into your mouth while you sleep.
- IntronExon 9y agoMidnight snack is ok by me, but in my ear? Aiiiieeee!
- DoofusOfDeath 9y agoIf you'd like to keep things in perspective, go back and watch some videos involving Japanese giant hornets (shudder).
- kbenson 9y agoAt 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.
- sevenfive 9y agoIt's not hard to just guess. What is a spider? Radial lines that move.
- kbenson 9y agoI posted that after viewing this[1] from the article. I would say there's quite a bit more there going on that gives me the heebie jeebies than just radial lines that move. 1: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/02/06/science/06OBS-ARACHNID2/06OBS-ARACHNID2-superJumbo.jpg https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/02/06/science/06OBS-ARA...
- fwdpropaganda 9y agoScorpions are already quite close to spiders. They're both arachnids.
- DoofusOfDeath 9y agoScorpions are already quite close to spiders. They're both reasons I refuse to live close to the equator.
- ivanhoe 9y agoAnd Australia, don't forget Australia...
- rosege 9y agoScorpions are the least of your worries in Australia.
- flukus 9y agoI've got some bad news: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0624_030624_scorpions_2.html 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 9y agoYou 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 9y agoPlease do not 'Jurassic Park' this thing back to life. Kthxbai.
- monocasa 9y agoDNA has a half life of only 521 years, so that avenue is unlikely to bear fruit (or dinosaurs, or scropi-ders) anyway.
- dogma1138 9y agohttp://www.nature.com/news/first-horses-arose-4-million-years-ago-1.13261 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.
- dkersten 9y agoIf they artificially recreate the DNA somehow and then, again, somehow, bring these things to life, may as well edit the DNA and make them a lot larger. Now, that would be horrifying.
- dogma1138 9y agoWe don’t really know how big they could get mulching species can grow nearly in orders of magnitude.
- ZorroToaster 9y agoThat thing looks like mix and match of various God of War enemies.
- arthurcolle 9y agoyeah lets give them more legs, perfect idea
- jaclaz 9y 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-spider http://www.burkemuseum.org/blog/myth-eight-legs-always-means....
- noetic_techy 9y agoI hope they find remnant species deep in these jungles one day. Similar to the Coelacanth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoI'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 9y 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 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumodesmus
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoThat makes a lot more sense!
- yesenadam 9y 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 9y agoAmateur bug-guy here. To me it looks like an early predecessor to the whip-scorpion / vinegaroon. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelyphonida https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelyphonida
- camillomiller 9y agoIf I’ll ever have my own death metal band I will call it The Vinegaroon.
- itronitron 9y agoyou may also want to consider 'The Solifugae'
- camillomiller 9y agoThat's more fitting for my cello quartet specializing in Bach's sonatas :D
- tptacek 9y agoPut it back, please.