Ancient fossil was 'nearly a spider'

Easily pre-dating the dinosaurs, the 1.5cm creature lived alongside the oldest known ancestors of modern spiders but its lineage is now extinct.

The specimen was dug up decades ago in France but never identified, because its front half was encased in rock.

Now, researchers have made a detailed reconstruction using CT scans.

Their findings are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"This fossil is the most closely related thing we have to a spider that isn't a spider," said first author Russell Garwood from the University of Manchester.

Source: BBC