First decapod crustaceans in a L ate D evonian continental ecosystem

The origin and early diversification of decapod crustaceans and their expansion from marine to continental environments are key events in arthropod evolution. Rare fossil decapods are known from the Palaeozoic, and the earliest eumalacostracans with undoubted decapod affinities are theLateDevonianPalaeopalaemonandAciculopoda, found in offshore marine deposits. Here, we describe a new species of the shrimpTealliocarisfound in floodplain and temporary pond deposits from theFamennian (LateDevonian) ofBelgium, together with a rarePalaeozoic assemblage of other crustaceans (conchostracans, notostracans and anostracans) and chelicerates (eurypterids).Tealliocaris walloniensis sp. nov. documents the earliest occurrence of continental decapod crustaceans and indicates that decapods have been part of continental ecosystems at least since theLateDevonian.