Researchers recently studied a crab from the cretaceous dinosaur era (about 100 million years ago)
preserved well in amber (resin from bark of the tree). The fossil was found in Longyin Amber Museum, Yunnan Province, China.
This is the first time an aquatic organism has been found in amber. It is the oldest known modern crab. The crab was
measured five millimetres and was well preserved with its eyes, antennae, mouthparts lined with fine hairs and gills (organs used for breathing in aquatic organisms). Researchers analysed the fossil with micro CT scans and found that it was juvenile (young one) crab of an aquatic to amphibious (living both on land and in water) species. It was named Cretapsara athanata which means “the immortal Cretaceous spirit of clouds and water” (cretaceous, apsara – a spirit of the clouds and waters in Asian mythology, athanatos – immortal).
This fossil record confirms that crabs actually invaded the land and freshwater habitats during the dinosaur era.
With Inputs from Swasti Sharma