A new, highly diverse paguroid assemblage from the Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) of southern Poland and its environmental distribution

Over the past fifteen years, numerous new Mesozoic paguroid assemblages have been described. Here we add a new, diverse hermit crab faunule comprising members of the families Gastrodoridae, Paguropsidae, Pilgrimchelidae, Pylochelidae and Schobertellidae, as well as a single symmetrical tergite from Upper Jurassic (middle Oxfordian) limestones in Szklarka valley, near Krakow, southern Poland. The paguroid taxa occur mainly in the massive sponge- microbial limestones rather than in the adjacent platy limestones. Previously described species in this lot comprise Ammo pyloMasticacheles longirostris and Pilgrimcheles karolinae. The occurrence of Daciapagurus szklarkaensis n. sp. extends the stratigraphical and palaeogeographical range of the genus from the early Kimmeridgian to the middle Oxfordian, while Pylochelitergites cicatrix n. sp. constitutes a novel type of symmetrical paguroid tergite. Both these taxa demonstrate the presence of pylochelids during the early history of paguroid anomurans. With up to eight genera represented, this is the oldest, most diverse extinct paguroid faunule on record to date.