Amphipoda from the Late Neogene of Shanxi, China

Abstract : Amphipods are extremely diverse malacostracan crustaceans that have conquered many environments from oceanic abysses to the terrestrial realm. Despite their impressive modern diversity and abundance, they are particularly rare in the fossil record. Herein, we describe the exceptionally preserved Gammaroidorum yooling sp. nov. from the Late Neogene of Xiaobai Formation near Pandao village, Shanxi, China. Due to the limitation of the preservation, namely the non-preservation of setae, we could not establish a precise generic assignment, so used the collective group Gammaroidorum Jarzembowski, Chény, Fang & Wang, 2020. Although there are still doubts on the precise placement of this new species within amphipods, these fossils are important since they represent the first known fossil occurrence of an amphipod in China. Besides, these fossils have an unusual preservation, being almost transparent in most cases, and being most easily seen by reflecting light on the fossil.