The Granton ‘shrimp-bed’, Edinburgh—a Lower Carboniferous Konservat-Lagerstätte

Newly discovered crustaceans from the Granton ‘shrimp-bed’ (Dinantian, Lower Oil Shale Group) are described:Bairdops elegans, Minicarissp.,Palaemysis, Tealliocariscf.woodwardi, Pseudogalathea ornatissima, Anthracocaris scotica, Paraparchitescf.okeni, Beyrichiopsis plicata, andEocypridinacf.aciculata, and new observations onWaterstonella grantonensisare reported.Tealliocaris woodwardialone is recorded from bed o, a levelca1 m below the ‘shrimp-bed’. The Granton ‘shrimp-bed’ biota is reviewed—the geological and lithological context of the deposit, the distribution and taphonomy of the biota, its life environment, palaeoecology, the likely causes of mortality, and comparisons are made with contemporaneous shrimp biotas. The nature of this unusual Konservat-Lagerstätte reflects conditions in the sheltered, periodically emergent lagoon which it represents.