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110-Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Preserved In Amber Is Unprecedented

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Spider attack

The image above depicts a spider about to chow down on a male wasp. It's the "only fossil ever discovered of a spider attack on prey caught in its web," according to researchers at Oregon State University who discovered the fossil in Myanmar's Hukawng Valley.  

The attack, preserved in a piece of amber, went down around 110 million years ago. But the spider never got to finish its meal. 

"The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them,” George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at Oregon State University, said in a statement. 

The oldest fossil of a spider web ever found is about 130 million years old, but a fossilized spider attack has never been recorded.  

SEE ALSO: Researcher Apologizes For Not Discovering Cool New Species Of Dinosaur Sooner > 

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