Javier Luque Profile picture
Oct 20, 2021 9 tweets 14 min read Read on X
This tiny crab trapped in 100-million-year-old amber is the most complete fossil crab ever discovered! But how did a crab get trapped in amber in the first place? Here we tell you the story
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… #Science #Evolution #SciComm 1/n Image
Transitions from marine to non-marine environments (e.g., land, brackish & freshwater) are an infrequent even in most animal groups. And yet, true crabs, or #Brachyura, have done it independently over a dozen times! #ocean #freshwater #evolution 2/n Mangrove tree crab, Aratus ...
Amber is like a time capsule that preserves organisms like frozen in time. While most fossils in amber are land-dwelling animals—principally insects—, aquatic organisms such as crabs are extremely rare! #amber #jurassicpark #Cretaceous #Crabs Photo by @LidaXing1982 3/n Image
Cretapsara athanata, "the immortal Cretaceous spirit of the clouds and waters", honors the #Cretaceous Period & Apsara, a spirit of the clouds & waters in South & Southeast Asian #mythology. The species name, “athanatos”, means immortal, referring to its lifelike preservation ImageImage
Despite its small size (5mm from leg to leg) Cretapsara preserves in stunning detail the body, legs, claws, antennae, #eyes, and even mouthparts with tiny hairs! 🦀 #sciencetwitter #Time #Paleontropica science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… 4/n Image
One of the most remarkable surprises of the new fossil discovery is the preservation of tiny gills in #3D , revealed via a microCT scan. Mind-blowing! 🤯 What can we learn from the exceptional preservation of this crab in amber? #VirtualPhotography #OA science.org/doi/suppl/10.1… Image
Cretapsara (~100 Mya) bridges the gap between the molecular🧬 split of nonmarine crabs from their marine kins (~130 Mya) and their oldest known fossils (~75–50 Mya), and tells us that crabs have conquered land and freshwater more than 12 times independently! #Evolution #OA 7/n Image
And here is a stunning #3D video #animation of tiny Cretapsara athanata that will blow your mind! Because every day is #CrabDay 🦀🙌 Click here👇 #SciComm #sciart #paleoart #InsertAnInvert #Science #nature #art @HarvardOEB @NSF @NSERC_CRSNG 8/n
Want to have your own 3D-printable model of Cretapsara athanata? Here you go! 🙌👇 science.org/doi/suppl/10.1…. Thanks to @LidaXing1982, @LizClarkPhD and everyone who made this project possible @HarvardOEB @yalepeabody @stri_panama @UofAResearch @NSF @NSERC_CRSNG. Art by @franzanth Image

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