The spider, Megamonodontium mccluskyi, was described in a peer-reviewed study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. “We rarely find spider fossils in Australia,” said Dr Matthew McCurry of the Australian Museum, lead author of the study. Why Spider Fossils Are So Vanishingly RareSpiders, despite being among the oldest land animals on Earth, are poorly represented in the fossil record. In fact, only four spider fossils have ever been recorded from the entire Australian continent. According to Science Advances, McGraths Flat fossils preserve even subcellular structures, providing unprecedented resolution into extinct life.