Ever since the first screening of Jurassic Park, everyone has dreamt of finding that elusive chunk of amber that contains an intact specimen of some prehistoric insect that would hold the key to bringing dinosaurs back. Although they haven’t found quite that, a team of researchers has found something nearly as fascinating.

George Poinar, Jr., a zoology professor at Oregon State University, and Ron Buckley, an amber collector from Kentucky, discovered the piece in a Burmese mine. Researchers say its around 97 million to 110 million years old and dates back to the Early Cretaceous period.

What makes the find even more fascinating is the species of the insect. Although it looks like it’s the wasp that was the victim, it has been identified as the type that parasitises spider eggs. Poinar explained:

This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it. This was a male wasp that suddenly found itself trapped in a spider web. This was the wasp’s worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them.

The unique amber chunk contains 15 strands of spider silk and is the first recorded evidence of a prehistoric spider attack. Another male spider body also caught in the web could make this the oldest known evidence of social behaviour in spiders.

Frozen in a neverending nightmare, lovely. Does make one wonder though, did the spider spot the amber approaching and intentionally decided to pin-down the parasitic insect and trap it in eternal torment? Maybe the wasp had already parasitised the spider’s eggs and this was just sweet, sweet revenge.

[Source: Discovery]