dc.contributor.author | Selden, Paul A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Shih, ChungKun | |
dc.contributor.author | Ren, Dong | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-04-15T14:10:57Z | |
dc.date.available | 2014-04-15T14:10:57Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2011-04-20 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Selden, Paul A, ChungKun Shih, and Dong Ren. 2011. “A Golden Orb-Weaver Spider (Araneae: Nephilidae: Nephila) from the Middle Jurassic of China.” Biology Letters 7 (5): 775–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0228 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1808/13486 | |
dc.description.abstract | Nephila are large, conspicuous weavers of orb webs composed of golden silk, in tropical and subtropical regions. Nephilids have a sparse fossil record, the oldest described hitherto being Cretaraneus vilaltae from the Cretaceous of Spain. Five species from Neogene Dominican amber and one from the Eocene of Florissant, CO, USA, have been referred to the extant genus Nephila. Here, we report the largest known fossil spider, Nephila jurassica sp. nov., from Middle Jurassic (approx. 165 Ma) strata of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. The new species extends the fossil record of the family by approximately 35 Ma and of the genus Nephila by approximately 130 Ma, making it the longest ranging spider genus known. Nephilidae originated somewhere on Pangaea, possibly the North China block, followed by dispersal almost worldwide before the break-up of the supercontinent later in the Mesozoic. The find suggests that the palaeoclimate was warm and humid at this time. This giant fossil orb-weaver provides evidence of predation on medium to large insects, well known from the Daohugou beds, and would have played an important role in the evolution of these insects. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | This research is supported by grants from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (nos 40872022, 31071964), the Nature Science Foundation of Beijing (no. 5082002), Scientific Research Key Programme (KZ200910028005), the PHR Project of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, and the China, India and Korea Fund of the University of Kansas. | en_US |
dc.publisher | Royal Society Publishing | en_US |
dc.rights | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
dc.subject | Daohugou | |
dc.subject | Fossil | |
dc.subject | Inner mongolia | |
dc.subject | Mesozoic | |
dc.title | A golden orb-weaver spider (Araneae: Nephilidae: Nephila) from the Middle Jurassic of China | en_US |
dc.type | Article | |
kusw.kuauthor | Sleden, Paul A. | |
kusw.kudepartment | Department of Geology | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0228 | |
dc.subject.uri | http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1211883 | |
dc.subject.uri | http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1353691 | |
dc.subject.fast | China--Inner Mongolia | |
dc.subject.fast | Mesozoic Geologic Period | |
kusw.oaversion | Scholarly/refereed, publisher version | |
kusw.oapolicy | This item meets KU Open Access policy criteria. | |
dc.rights.accessrights | openAccess | |