It comes from fossil-rich amber deposits discovered in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain about seven years ago .
According to the authors, the new find is not only the oldest but also the first known substantial fossilized section of spider web.
The partial web includes 26 strands of silk, some of them joined by cross links, Grimaldi says, which are typical of orb-weaving spider webs.
The only sample comparable to the find is a piece of Lebanese amber 130 million years old that holds a single strand of spider silk.
Both specimens formed during the early Cretaceous period, a time when creatures such as iguanadons were on the scene but well before the arrival of Tyrannosaurus rex.
While there was no spider present in the latest find, the amber did contain a mite, a beetle, a leg from a wasp, and a fly caught by the spider's silk.
The discovery, Grimaldi says, helps researchers understand the evolution of both spiders and their prey.
For example, a long history of hanging webs would mean spiders have been influencing the evolution of flying insects for millions of years.

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