Plants and Animals

Tarantulas Were Scuttling Around Earth alongside Dinosaurs 120 Million Years Ago

Tarantulas Were Scuttling Around Earth alongside Dinosaurs 120 Million Years Ago

Tarantulas contain some of the largest and funniest species of spiders in the world. Which have found on six of the planets seven continents have proved surprising to scientists, as these wooden giants not known for having nomadic lifestyles?

In fact, they are one of the most arrogant groups of spiders where only males go out screaming for a mate, while females stick their backs to their necks. So, how did they take over the world? The study, conducted by an international team of researchers centered on how long ago these eight birds discovered, looked at extensive transcriptomes of the tarantula species from different periods of Earth’s history.

From this, they were able to create a genetic tree of the species Tarantula that could cross-reference with specimens from fossil records. It turns out that these vague critics were ancient and actually known as Americans from about 120 million years ago to the present day, which was turbulent around. Dinosaurs still dropped it on Earth while roaming, as some frogs and spiders do, but they fake what would be the most metallic pair in the natural world. They were residents of Gondwana, a supercontinent joining South America, Africa, India and Australia.

Therefore, it is as a statistic that they were able to extend to these (now far-reaching) corners of the earth for continental flow, but it seems that their arrival is not beyond silent fate. The researchers looked at the colonies of the two Tarantula dynasties in Asia and found something interesting, which indicates that the Tarantulas are more scatter than they give us credit. Both appeared in the Indian subcontinent before joining Asia, one was on a treetops and the other landed by land.

The first of the two to reach Asia (the second created land about 20 million years later) did something particularly surprising, moving below and beyond the Wallace Line, the “border” line that seems to separate the biographical regions of Asia and Australia. Species usually expected to bloom on one side or the other, but it seems that this genus of tarantulas has successfully set up camp on both sides. Sawyers Foley of Carnegie Mellon University said in a statement, “We have not previously considered tarantulas to be good distributors.” Continental currents have certainly played a role in their history, although the two Asian colonies encourage us to reconsider. Those tarantulas specialize in the exploitation of ecological niches and at the same time show signs of niche conservation.”