Mesozygiella
species of arachnid (fossil)
Mesozygiella is an extinct genus of orb-weaving spider (family Araneidae), with one known species, Mesozygiella dunlopi, dating from the Early Cretaceous, making it the earliest orb-weaver yet discovered. Two male specimens of the species were found embedded in amber in Álava, northern Spain. The fossils provide direct evidence that the three major orb weaving families, namely Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Uloboridae, had evolved by this time, about 140 million years ago. They probably originated during the Jurassic (200-145 million years ago). All three families very likely have a common origin.
The found males have a body length of two to almost three millimeters and eight eyes. The fossils are highly similar to recent Zygiella species, apart from the embolus originating medially rather than distally.
Name
The genus name is a combination of meso, with the fossil stemming from the Mesozoic era, and the recent araneid genus Zygiella, to which the fossil is closely related. The species is named in honor of paleoarachnologist Jason A. Dunlop.
References
External links
"Early web-spinner found in amber".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mesozygiella” as species of arachnid (fossil). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3020883. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mesozygiella” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.