New technology X-ray computed tomography, have allowed scientists to see details of the spider age 49 million years, which was stuck in a piece of amber. The results of their work, scientists in the journal Naturwissenschaften , and briefly described in a press release, University of Manchester.

Amber is a rich source of ancient remains of insects, arachnids and other medium-sized creatures. They are stuck in a sticky resin that eventually hardened, turning into a sort of sarcophagus. Most often, scientists are working with amber, found in the Baltic region - its average age is about 49 million years. In this paper, the authors studied specimens of amber from a private collection that is stored in the Berlin Museum of Natural History. Due to the fact that fragments of amber remain in contact with oxygen, its surface covered with cracks and become turbid.

Conventional methods to discern the content of these fragments was not possible, so the researchers used x-ray computed tomography, followed by computer modeling. As a result, the authors managed to recover three-dimensional image stuck in one of the fragments of amber spiders. It can be seen here.

It turned out that in ancient amber age 49 million years is a spider of the family Sparassidae , whose members today live in the tropics and in parts of southern Europe. In the past, these spiders are obviously inhabited, and the central part of Europe. Members of the family Sparassidae - a large and active spiders, so you usually do not find them stuck in amber.

Recently another group of researchers in India found a large piece of amber, which is very much insects, spiders and other arthropods. Age finds about 50 million years.