The discovery of fossils from a previously unknown lagonomegopid spider species in South Korea, dating back more than 110 million years, has revealed that their eyes would have glowed in the dark. The results were published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology and included “the first preservation of a spider eye tapetum in the fossil record,” according to the authors.
In a press release, Dr. Paul Selden, a University of Kansas professor of geology and co-author of the study, describes the tapetum as “a reflective structure in an inverted eye where light comes in and is reverted back into retina cells.”
