Selden Paul A, Huang Diying
Paleontological Institute and Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
Naturwissenschaften. 2010 May;97(5):449-59. doi: 10.1007/s00114-010-0649-z. Epub 2010 Feb 6.
New fossil spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Middle Jurassic (ca. 165 Ma) strata of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China are described as Eoplectreurys gertschi gen. et sp. nov. and referred to the modern haplogyne family Plectreuridae. This small family is restricted to southwestern USA, Mexico, and the adjacent Caribbean area today and hitherto has only a sparse Cenozoic fossil record. The morphology of Eoplectreurys is remarkably similar to modern forms and thus demonstrates great evolutionary conservatism. This new discovery not only extends the fossil record of the family by at least 120 Ma to the Middle Jurassic but also supports the hypothesis of a different distribution of the family in the past than today and subsequent extinction over much of its former range.
来自中国内蒙古道虎沟中侏罗世（约1.65亿年前）地层的新化石蜘蛛（蛛形纲：蜘蛛目）被描述为格氏始掠蛛（Eoplectreurys gertschi），新属新种，归入现代单螯蛛科（Plectreuridae）。这个小科现今仅分布于美国西南部、墨西哥及邻近的加勒比地区，迄今为止仅有稀少的新生代化石记录。始掠蛛的形态与现代种类极为相似，因而显示出极大的进化保守性。这一新发现不仅将该科的化石记录至少向前延伸了1.2亿年至中侏罗世，还支持了该科过去分布范围与现今不同且随后在其大部分原分布区域灭绝的假说。
