The crustaceans have recently been discovered in northern Spain

Feb 5, 2013 07:27 GMT  ·  By

The news has broken that researchers studying a fossil reef located in northern Spain have recently stumbled upon the world's oldest spider crabs, i.e. the Cretamaja granulata and the Koskobilius postangustus.

Information made available to the general public thus far says that these crustaceans used to inhabit the earth nearly 100 million years ago, meaning that their being discovered sheds new light on the origin of spider crabs as a self-standing species.

Huffington Post quotes Adiël Klompmaker, a postdoctoral researcher currently working with the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, who made a case of how, “The previous oldest one was from France and is some millions of years younger.”

“So this discovery in Spain is quite impressive and pushes back the origin of spider crabs as known from fossils,” Adiël Klompmaker went on to add.

All in all, eight new species of crustaceans have been discovered by researchers in this fossil reef.