By: Dr. Abbas Haddadin
A striking similarity can be observed between two spiders preserved in amber from vastly different geological ages. The specimen on the right is a Baltic amber spider, dating to about 40 million years ago, while the specimen on the left is a Jordanian amber spider, approximately 140 million years old.
اضافة اعلان
Despite the 100-million-year age gap, both spiders display remarkably similar body structures and leg arrangements. This strong morphological resemblance suggests long-term evolutionary stability and may indicate that the Baltic spider represents a later descendant of an ancient lineage already present in Jordan during the Early Cretaceous.
Jordanian amber therefore provides a unique window into the deep evolutionary history of spiders and supports the idea that many modern spider lineages originated much earlier than previously believed.
