Earliest Evidence of Spider Fangs Discovered in Half-Billion-Year-Old Fossils

Scientists from Yunnan University and University of Leicester discovered pincer-like appendages (chelicerae) in 518-million-year-old fossils of Urokodia aequalis from the early Cambrian period of China, representing the earliest known evidence of structures that evolved into spider fangs. This predates the previous earliest known example by 14 million years and provides a direct blueprint for understanding how these mouthparts evolved across chelicerates.