Cobweb 140 million-year-old was found in an amber in Sussex, England, by a team of researchers at Oxford University, recently. In addition to spider webs, the scientists also discovered several plant material, insect droppings, and the ancient microbes in the place.
"The net is a net discovery of the oldest in the fossil record so far," says Martin Brasier, head of the Oxford University research team to the team LiveScience.
Brasier and colleagues used a computer technique called confocal microscopy to reconstruct the net and check the basket structure. From the few clues found, the researchers suspect, cobwebs shining generated by a spider who has close ties with the modern spider.
"If seen from the net, I suspect the food of spiders are flying insects, like flies and bees ancestors, wasps, moths, too," Brasier said.
In 2006, scientists have reported finding cobwebs in an ancient amber estimated 136 million years old. The discovery of spider webs latest journal will be published in an upcoming issue of Geological Society.
