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P R O ME T H E US P R E S S / P A L A E O N T O L O G I C A L N E T W O R K F O UN D A T I O N Journal of Taphonomy (TERUEL) 2011. I SSUE 4 Available online at www.journaltaphonomy.com THE TAPHONOMIST´S CORNER THE FIDELITY OF THE AMBER PRESERVATION Enrique Peñalver Instituto Geológico y Minero de España Ríos Rosas, 23 28003 Madrid Spain [email protected] The fossil photographed corresponds to an araneomorph spider, 6.5 mm long, of the family Dysderidae preserved in Dominican amber, approximately 20 million years old. This amber, originated from resins of Hymenaea trees, has captured a great variety of tropical organisms, such as leaves, flowers, fungi, scorpions, myriad arachnids and insects, swarms and mating pairs of insects and hosts with parasites, even mammal remains, lizards and frogs. The preservation of the arachnids and insects shows a great fidelity, sometimes including internal anatomy preservation, which is better than that of the Baltic amber or any other kind of amber in the world. The family Dysderidae is known as woodlouse hunters or cell spiders. It is present in many regions of the world, but curiously there are not representatives today in the Caribbean. The specimen shows big chelicerae in its front; there are some reports indicating that these spiders in extant ecosystems have mildly toxic venom that can cause local reactions in humans. The cephalothorax of these spiders is dull red-brown and the opisthosoma or “abdomen” is gray, implying a very peculiar look, which is clearly preserved in the specimen. 285