This is a fossil of the world’s oldest lobster! Unearthed in 1995, the fossil crustacean was found in the Chiapas state of Mexico. Surprisingly, this ancient animal survived 110 million years ago; this is about 20 million years older than the period when any specimens were known.
Announcing this in a press release on Monday, the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) scientists were not surprised by the lobster’s being found in Chiapas, as it belongs to the genus that is in Africa today.
It is simply because the crustacean was dated back to a period when Africa and America were relatively closer ‘ as we all know that the two continents have started splitting apart only about 120 million years ago and the specimen survived 110 million years ago.
The juvenile fossil lobster is dubbed Palinurus palaceosi. It was among the remains of several ancient fish and crustaceans found in a quarry in the tiny El Espinal town.
In the UNAM press release, geologist Francisco Javier Vega Vera said,
The important message that we can give is that the evolution of these groups of crustaceans needs to be reviewed, since the specialists of the world thought that it started much later.
We could call them living fossils, since they have had a consistent morphologic pattern throughout many millions of years.
This is perhaps the region, where the modern lobsters may have started evolving.
Photo: National Geographic News