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LONDON — The tiny tangled threads of the world’s oldest spider web have been found encased in a prehistoric piece of amber, a British scientist said Monday.

Oxford University paleobiologist Martin Brasier said the 140-million-year-old webbing provides evidence that arachnids had been ensnaring their prey in silky nets since the dinosaur age. He also said the strands were linked to one another in the roughly circular pattern familiar the world over.

The web was found in a small piece of amber picked up by an amateur fossil-hunter scouring the beaches on England’s south coast about two years ago, Brasier said.