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Since its ancestors were long-tailed decapods, and its successors were short-tailed crabs, Eocarcinus has been described as "the lobster who decided to become a crab". [5] Previously considered to be the oldest known true crab , a 2010 revision concluded that Eocarcinus could not be accommodated among the Brachyura, and was instead transferred ...
The earliest unambiguous crab fossils date from the Early Jurassic, with the oldest being Eocarcinus from the early Pliensbachian of Britain, which likely represents a stem-group lineage, as it lacks several key morphological features that define modern crabs.
Horseshoe crabs have been described as "living fossils", having changed little since they first appeared in the Triassic. Only four species of horseshoe crab are extant today. Most are marine, though the mangrove horseshoe crab is often found in brackish water. Additionally, certain extinct species transitioned to living in freshwater.
The group has hardly changed in appearance in hundreds of millions of years; the modern horseshoe crabs look almost identical to prehistoric genera and are considered to be living fossils. The most notable difference between ancient and modern forms is that the abdominal segments in present species are fused into a single unit in adults.
Marrella was the first fossil collected by Charles Doolittle Walcott from the Burgess Shale, in 1909. [1] Walcott described Marrella informally as a "lace crab" and described it more formally as an odd trilobite. It was later reassigned to the now defunct class Trilobitoidea in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology.
Fossils are rarely preserved in tropical settings in comparison to other parts of the world, making this fossil an even more unusual discovery. [7] An in-depth study of the crab's eyes indicated that Callichimaera was an active predator living high in the water column. [5]
Vaderlimulus is a genus of horseshoe crab. [1] [2] The species V. tricki lived in the Olenekian age Triassic period approximately 245 million years ago North America, Idaho.The genus was named after a Star Wars character Darth Vader due to the animal's oversized head shield resembling Darth Vader’s helmet.
Metacarcinus crabs have an oval carapace of about ⅔ of its largest width, with a surface with poorly marked division of smooth or gently colored regions. The front edge usually does not protrude before orbital, and the total length of these edges is 26–34% of the largest width of the carapace, with five spikes, including inner orbits, of which the middle springs lower than the others. 9 ...