Decapod Crustacea from the Agrio Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Neuquén Basin,Argentina |
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| Authors: | BEATRIZ AGUIRRE‐URRETA DARÍO G. LAZO PETER F. RAWSON |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Instituto de Estudios Andinos Don Pablo Groeber (UBA‐CONICET), Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina;2. e‐mail: aguirre@gl.fcen.uba.ar;3. Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Hull (Scarborough Campus), Filey Road, Scarborough YO11 3AZ, UK;4. Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK |
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| Abstract: | Abstract: Two species of decapod crustacean are recorded from the Agua de la Mula Member of the Agrio Formation (Upper Hauterivian – Lower Barremian) of the Neuquén Basin of west‐central Argentina, namely Astacodes falcifer Bell and a new species of Palaeohomarus, P. pacificus. The preservation of the specimens is exceptional, some showing delicate compound eyes and a stridulatory apparatus, features rarely found in fossil forms. Many specimens are preserved articulated inside calcareous nodules, within dark‐grey shales. The lobster‐bearing sediments accumulated in a low‐energy marine environment and diagenetic mineralization occurred very rapidly, prior to significant decay, thus allowing exceptional preservation of specimens. Palaeohomarus was a rare genus in the Cretaceous with a palaeogeographic distribution restricted to the Mediterranean Tethys, the eastern USA and Madagascar, while Astacodes falcifer has been recorded only from Speeton (eastern England) and Neuquén. |
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| Keywords: | Crustacea Lower Cretaceous Argentina exceptional preservation eyes stridulatory structure |
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