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Maternal care in Mid-Cretaceous lagonomegopid spiders

Authors :
Paul A. Selden
Dong Ren
Xiangbo Guo
Source :
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
The Royal Society, 2021.

Abstract

Maternal care benefits the survival and fitness of offspring, often at a cost to the mother's future reproduction, and has evolved repeatedly throughout the animal kingdom. In extant spider species, this behaviour is very common and has different levels and diverse forms. However, evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders is quite rare. In this study, we describe four Mid-Cretaceous (approx. 99 Ma) amber specimens from northern Myanmar with an adult female, part of an egg sac and some spiderlings of the extinct family Lagonomegopidae preserved, which suggest that adult lagonomegopid females probably built and then guarded egg sacs in their retreats or nests, and the hatched spiderlings may have stayed together with their mother for some time. The new fossils represent early evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders, and enhance our understanding of the evolution of this behaviour.

Details

ISSN :
14712954 and 09628452
Volume :
288
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....3203fff08b9f0f370c7aaa160153cdb6
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1279