The oldest (Middle Triassic, Anisian) lobsters from the Netherlands: taxonomy, taphonomy, paleoenvironment, and paleoecology

Fossil lobsters from the Netherlands have been described only rarely. This article describes the oldest, marine lobsters from the Netherlands in Middle Triassic Anisian (Muschelkalk) sediments cropping out in the Winterswijk quarry complex. The lobsters include the erymids Clytiopsis argentoratensis and Oosterinkia neerlandica n. gen., n. sp., and the mecochirid Pseudoglyphea cf. P. spinosa. They lived in a low energy, stressed environment with fluctuating salinity levels. This fluctuation might have caused the limited size of the specimens of Clytiopsis argentoratensis compared to related stratigraphically younger and older lobsters. In addition, the low number of specimens collected over decades and the low number of crustacean species is likely to be caused by a combination of the environment itself and a limited preservation potential.