[Rockhounds] Fossil spider fossil unmasked as a fossil crayfish and hoax

[Paul]

A 'Jackalope' of an ancient spider fossil deemed a hoax, unmasked as a 
crayfish
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-jackalope-ancient-spider-fossil-deemed.htmlby 
Brendan M. Lynch, University of Kansas
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-fossil-has-been-stripped-of-its-classification-because-its-legs-were-literally-painted-on

The papers are:

Cheng, X., Liu, S., Huang, W., Liu, L., Li, H. and Li, Y., 2019. A New 
Species of
Mongolarachnidae from the Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning, China.
Acta Geologica Sinica‐English Edition, 93(1), pp.227-228.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1755-6724.13780
http://www.geojournals.cn/dzxben/ch/reader/create_pdf.aspx?file_no=2019endzxb01016&year_id=2019&quarter_id=1&falg=1

and

Selden, P. A., Olcott, A. N., Downen, M. R., Ren, D., Shih, C., and 
Cheng, X.
2019, The supposed giant spider Mongolarachne chaoyangensis, from the
  Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China, is a crayfish. Palaeoentomology.
2(5):515-22.
http://www.paulselden.net/uploads/7/5/3/2/7532217/yixiancrayfish2019.pdf
https://www.mapress.com/j/pe/article/view/palaeoentomology.2.5.15

An interesting web page on fake trilobites.

Fake Trilobites, American Museum of Natural History
https://www.amnh.org/research/paleontology/collections/fossil-invertebrate-collection/trilobite-website/the-trilobite-files/fake-trilobites

Yours,

Paul H.