Tricarina gadvanensis is an isopod: reinterpretation of an alleged lobster from the Lower Cretaceous of Iran

Matúš Hyžný (1, 2) , Denis Audo (3, 4) , Rodney Feldmann (5) , Guenter Schweigert (6)

1 Faculty of Natural Science, Department of Geology and Paleontology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
2 Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
3 Yunnan University
4 MEC - MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment
5 Kent State University
6 SMNS - Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart

Abstract An incomplete arthropod fossil, Tricarina gadvanensis Feldmann et al., 2007, from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian–Aptian) of Iran, originally interpreted as a lobster (Malacostraca, Eucarida, Decapoda), is reinterpreted herein as a representative of a seroloid isopod crustacean (Malacostraca, Peracarida, Isopoda). The body orientation of the fossil is reversed, and the alleged cephalothoracic shield is reinterpreted as being the pleotelson. Tricarina gadvanensis , with its unique configuration of pleonite fusion (pleonites 1–4 are free, whereas pleonite 5, with still visible epimera, is fused with the pleotelson), is suggested to represent a close relative of Serolidae. The preservation of T. gadvanensis in deepwater shales speaks for conservativeness in environmental preferences of seroloid isopods for at least 125 million years.

Domaines: Paléontologie; Systématique, phylogénie et taxonomie; Evolution [q-bio.PE]

Matúš Hyžný, Denis Audo, Rodney Feldmann, Guenter Schweigert. Tricarina gadvanensis is an isopod: reinterpretation of an alleged lobster from the Lower Cretaceous of Iran. Journal of Paleontology, 2020, 94 (2), pp.304-310. ⟨10.1017/jpa.2019.61⟩. ⟨mnhn-03822539⟩