First record of an erymid lobster (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the upper Bajocian of Northwest Bulgaria

Abstract

Fossil chela of an erymid lobster from a single locality of the upper Bajocian in the Western Fore-Balkan Mts (NW Bulgaria) was studied. Two segments of the thoracic appendages, probably belonging to one individual, were described: 1) P1 propodus with partially preserved pollex and dactylus; and 2) P1 carpus and P1 merus attached. These elements of the first pair of pereiopods of a lobster were identified as Eryma compressum (Eudes-Deslongchamps, 1842). Eryma compressum a is well-known taxon from numerous Jurassic localities in Europe but has not been recorded in Bulgaria to date. Therefore, albeit being an isolated finding with only a few elements, the Bulgarian example contributes to the overall record of European erymid faunas from the Middle Jurassic, and especially in Eastern Europe, from where only a few erymids have been reported.

A synthesis of the evolutionary history of erymoid lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Erymoidea)

“…Important, yet mostly descriptive, contributions by Morière (1888), Sauvage (1891) and Lahusen (1894) appeared in print at the end of the nineteenth century. Following a study by Méchin (1901) on some crustacean fauna from the Lorraine region (eastern France), almost no work was done on erymoid lobsters at the start of the twentieth century. During the 1920s and early 1930s, our knowledge of European erymoid lobsters benefitted from important contributions by Van Straelen (1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, Beurlen (1928) and Woods (1930).…”